Waldschmidt Hall and a University exit sign were vandalized with the painted words “Free Palestine” and acronym “DAMPL” before 7 a.m. on Saturday, June 14.
While the investigation into the incident is ongoing, Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Management Michael McNerney was unable to confirm with The Beacon if Campus Safety has identified the responsible parties.
The vandalism was discovered by Campus Safety officers at approximately 7 a.m., according to McNerney.
The acronym “DAMPL” is likely a reference to the Direct Action Movement for Palestinian Liberation, according to McNerney.
The vandalism took place during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, where overnight and into June 14 at least 20 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza. Over 55,000 Palestinians have died since the start of the war.
The Facilities Services on-call has been leading the vandalism cleanup since approximately 7:40 a.m. So far, the paint has been cleared off the University exit sign, with Waldschmidt set to be cleaned by the end of day.
Two campus buildings were previously vandalized with the words “Palestine” and “Free Palestine” in 2024, though Campus Safety does not suspect the two incidents to be related, according to McNerney.
The 2024 vandalism was also projected to cost the University thousands. While McNerney says this incident is different from last year’s, he does think the cost of the current clean-up could also reach the thousands.
“Due to the timing and nature of this incident, I would be surprised if [the cleanup cost] did not reach quadruple digits,” McNerney said in an email to The Beacon.
Camille Kuroiwa-Lewis is the Editor-in-Chief of The Beacon. She can be reached at kuroiwal26@up.edu.
Maggie Dapp contributed to this story. She can be reached at dapp26@up.edu.
