“I do want to address your concerns,� said Paul Henisey, UCI chief of police during a phone interview with CampusJ on October 27. Henisey spoke about the recent vandalism at Vista Del Campo and shared some information about the ongoing investigation.
“There were two instances when a swastika was used and two with profanity against Vista Del Campo.â€? The chief said the investigation points to evidence that the f-word was used as an implication that VDC is “totalitarian.â€? UCI police have “…an active investigation going on; we have suspects,” he asserted, adding “to have an effective investigation we need to make sure that certain information isn’t released to warn our potential suspects.”
But one angle that investigation isn’t leading, he revealed, is toward an anti-Semitic motive: “If we felt that there was an anti-Jewish component, we would put that out,” he claimed, noting “we just don’t see that in this case.” However, he said, “we are concerned and looking into this [to establish if] this is an anti-Semitic incident” and that “we are taking it seriously because of the negative implications that this can have on Jewish students.”
Henisey urged Jewish students to come forward if they have experienced any verbal or physical harassment, as some claimed in the meeting with Chancellor Michael Drake. “From a criminal perspective we can’t prosecute every case, but from a university perspective we can,” he explained, asserting that “we want to make sure that we have a campus that welcomes diversity.”
“If an instance of harassment occurs, report it,” he declared.