Male vandal who drew swastikas at university won’t face charges

ATHENS, Ga. — University of Georgia officials determined a Clemson University-bound student visiting the Athens campus was responsible for drawing swastikas on student doors inside a residence hall last month. He won’t face criminal charges, officials noted in a statement.

The university didn’t identify the student in its statement last week, but confirmed he was banned from all University of Georgia system campuses, news outlets reported Friday.

The South Carolina student admitted to drawing explicit images in a residence hall in October, according to an incident report obtained by news outlets. Someone saw him drawing the images, told him to stop and erased them, the report said.

Similar offensive drawings were also found in November. The student admitted to being in the hall again that month, but denied making any drawings during that visit. Investigators concluded they were made by the same person, the report noted.

The student’s father told investigators his son was “just being drunk and silly” and wouldn’t harm anyone, the report said.

The student is enrolled at TriCounty Technical College in its Bridge to Clemson Program, Clemson officials said in a statement last week. The transfer program for freshman students offers support for participants to begin their second year at Clemson. TriCounty Technical College has opened an internal investigation, spokeswoman Rebecca Eidson confirmed.