When Sharon Burney saw her office building’s sign uprooted Wednesday, she knew it wasn’t an accident. Around 8:30 a.m., the program assistant
for African American Studies walked up to her offi ce in Walker Hall, stopping when she saw the building’s sign knocked over. The blue sign advertises Walker as the home of UF’s African American Studies department, the Center for Jewish Studies, the Humanities and the Public Sphere and the Office of Research.
The sign, Burney said, was too far from the curb for it to have been hit by a car. She called it was an act of vandalism.
“With the recent incidents all mounting up that we’ve had week after week after week on this campus that has gone unrecognized as the hate that they are, I’m concerned for my safety, the safety of the faculty and the students that come in this office,” Burney said.
Burney immediately called University Police to report the issue. Shortly after, officers put the sign back in place, but Burney said they didn’t take the issue seriously, treating it as a “drunken joke.”
UPD Maj. Brad Barber said officers took a report with information of the incident. At about 3:30 p.m., UPD’s Twitter accountposted a message asking for tips.
UF spokesperson Janine Sikes wrote in an email that police have increased patrols around Walker Hall in response.
“This incident is concerning because of an increase in hateful speech directed at certain races and religions on campus,” Sikes said. “Even more concerning is that some of our students, faculty and staff feel unsafe when we strive to create a welcoming, inclusive campus for everyone.”
The possible vandalism of the sign was the second incident this week, Burney said. On Monday, Tyra Striker, a UF telecommunication freshman, found her Black History Month-themed dorm door decoration torn down in Beaty Towers East.
She said the sign was covered with images of successful black people like Viola Davis and former U.S. President Barack Obama. But Striker, 18, said she won’t let someone’s ignorance of hate get to her. She put the decorations back up Wednesday.
“You run into people like that all the time, it’s just the way you respond to it,” she said. “You can respond to it by being ignorant back or you can respond to it by being the bigger person.”
For Burney, she said UF’s administration should issue a zero-tolerance policy for hatred on campus, like the racist writing found in Anderson Hall on Feb. 13. If the writing was directed toward white people, she said she thinks a greater effort would be made to find the culprit.
“I want them to respond to acts against people of color and disenfranchised people the same way they would respond if the person was blonde hair, blue eyes and affluential,” Burney said.
The sign for Walker Hall, which houses the African American Studies department and the Center for Jewish Studies, was found uprooted Wednesday.
