The University of Alabama has yet to provide an official update on the investigation into the antisemitic chalkings that were drawn across campus over two weeks ago.  

On Jan. 26, The Crimson White photographed almost two dozen “#YEisRight” chalkings across campus. Some of these chalkings also included the date Jan. 27, which is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

The Crimson White requested a response to the following questions from the University’s Division of Strategic Communications on Feb. 9:  

1. What is the update on the investigation on the 1/26/2023 chalkings that were found around campus? 

1. What parties are involved in the investigation? 

1. Who has been contacted in regard to this investigation? 

1. How has the university supported students, faculty and staff who have been affected by this incident? 

1. Why has the University not given an update to the student body, faculty and staff? 

1. Why wasn’t a formal email or social media communication issued after the University was made aware of the chalkings? 

1. What type of response is the University planning to issue upon completion of the investigation? 

Shane Dorrill, assistant director of communications, provided the following response on Feb. 10: 

“All of UA’s care and well-being services are available to students and faculty and staff, and those resources were communicated through various means to individuals who may have been affected. There is no additional publicly available information related to this incident,” Dorrill said. 

The University first commented on the event through a reply to a Jan. 26 tweet from @StopAntisemites, with a statement that the University had been notified of the chalking incident and had initiated an investigation. The University additionally shared a response on a separate tweet on their main Twitter account.  

The same statement was also released via a story post on the official UA Instagram. Instagram stories are only visible for 24 hours after posting. No other permanent statement was released on any official UA social media besides Twitter. 

“As soon as we were notified of the chalkings we began removing them, initiated an investigation and organized resources for those impacted and concerned,” the University said in the statement. The University has not publicly provided any additional updates on the investigation.  

The University did not reach out to students, faculty and staff through an official communication network, such as Crimson email, on the day of the incident or at any point afterwards. Some students previously criticized the way the University has responded, citing concerns about the disappearing Instagram statement and the lack of direct communication with the UA community. 

If you or someone you know is looking for support, please reach out to the organizations below: 

UA Counseling Center: https://counseling.sa.ua.edu/ 205-348-3863 

Crisis text line: text BAMA to 741-741. This line will connect you to a trained professional, and is 24/7, confidential, and free. 

UA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Incident Reporting: https://diversity.ua.edu/incident-reporting/  

Bama Hillel: http://hillel.ua.edu/  

UAPD: (205) 348-5454. You can also be connected to the 24/7 on-call counselor through UAPD. 

Discrimination reporting channel: https://uact.ua.edu