Police arrest Goucher student in two recent graffiti incidents

Swastikas, KKK lettering found in dorms have rattled Towson campus

Police arrested a Goucher College student in connection with two incidents of racist graffiti found in a campus dorm, which rattled the student body in recent weeks.

Fynn Ajani Arthur, a 21-year-old from Brunswick, Maine, was arrested at about 6 p.m. on the Towson campus Thursday and charged with two counts of malicious destruction of property, Baltimore County police said.

No attorney was listed in court records as representing Arthur. Efforts to reach Arthur and his family Friday were not successful.

Arthur’s arrest came after graffiti aimed at African-Americans and Latinos was found Thursday around 1:50 a.m. on the second floor of a campus dorm, one floor above wheresimilar graffiti had been found Nov. 14, Goucher College administrators said in a statement.

In both incidents, specific individuals were targeted and the graffiti included a backward swastika, according to the statement from Goucher president José Bowen, vice president and dean Bryan Coker, interim associate dean Nicole Johnson and director of public safety David Heffer. The graffiti found Thursday included swastikas and “KKK,” and appeared to include the last names of four black students, including Arthur, who is also black, according to police.

Arthur was on his own recognizance following a bail review hearing Friday, according to police.

Goucher officials said Arthur had been removed and banned from campus pending adjudication through the college’s student conduct processes.

Coker condemned the racist messages during a news conference Friday and criticized the Baltimore County police department for not having charged Arthur with a hate crime.

“These acts of hate have consumed our community and we feel strongly that the suspect should be prosecuted with the strongest charges, which reflect the seriousness of these crimes,” Coker said.

In Maryland, the specific charge of “hate crime” does not exist, said Officer Jennifer Peach, a spokeswoman for Baltimore County police. Rather, any evidence that a crime was motivated by bias is passed directly to the state’s attorney’s office for consideration during prosecution.

Goucher College Public Safety officials partnered with Baltimore County Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Balti- more Field Office to investigate both of the graffiti incidents, and officers concluded Arthur was responsible for the messages based on evidence found Thursday, according to police.

Officials said the college has reached out to the individuals targeted in the graffiti to offer support.

Still, some black students on campus Friday continued to harbor concerns following the news of Arthur’s arrest.

Senior Cydnii Jones said the graffiti incidents were symptoms of a larger issue of racism on campus.

Members of Goucher’s black student union group Umoja have designated a common area on campus for students to gather, debrief and vent.

The area was filled with students Friday afternoon. Nearby, a list of seven demands, signed by students in black marker, sat on a table. The demands included the hiring of more black staff members on campus, the installation of security cameras in residence halls and the requirement that a class on cultural competency be integrated into the First Year Mentor program.

“We had to mobilize when we were just trying to get an education,” Jones said. “It’s just really disappointing and draining.”