IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Two diversity murals at the University of Iowa were vandalized with Nazi symbols in separate incidents over the last week. University police say the first incident was discovered last week and the latest on Sunday, March 19.
The campus is no stranger to hateful messages, reports WHO-TV. Last year, a white supremacy card bearing the phrase "alt-right" was found in the library and another diversity mural was vandalized. In January, white nationalist fliers were spread across an Iowa City neighborhood.
Santos Rodriguez, the president of the campus chapter of the NAACP, wants the university to do more than just pay lip-service to the notion of diversity for the sake of its image.
"It seems that it's just all a marketing aspect, because when we are actually on campus there are a lot of instances where we face blatant racism."
Rodriguez says he hopes the university will put up cameras and add lighting to help protect art that celebrates diversity.
