Anthony Morales and Matthew Kafker. (Cook County sheriff's office)
Two Northwestern University students were arrested over the weekend for allegedly spray-painting racist and homophobic slurs, swastikas, penises and even Donald Trump’s name inside a campus chapel in Chicago.
Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas chewed out Northwestern University freshmen Anthony Morales and Matthew Kafker during a bond hearing for the two following their arrest.
“These allegations are disgusting to me,” Chiampas said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I don't know if any of you know how lucky you are to be at Northwestern University.”
Chiampas ordered both students held in lieu of $50,000 bail for charges of institutional vandalism, hate crime in a place of worship and criminal damage to property.
The two students were caught on surveillance video entering the chapel on Friday evening around 12:45 a.m. While inside, they allegedly spray-painted a swastika and a slur against African-Americans on the chapel hallway before painting a derogatory word for homosexuals on a wall in another room. The vandals purportedly also spray-painted lines over photos of Muslim students and several penises around the church, including one on the chapel’s piano.
They allegedly wrote the word “Trump” in a stairwell.
Prosecutors have not said why the two students targeted the nondenominational Alice Millar Chapel.
The vandalism was discovered the following morning by university chaplain Tim Stevens.
“It’s disturbing to think that someone who’s been in this space would be venting some sort of rage that way,” Stevens said, according to the New York Daily News. “I feel bad for them that they can’t handle it in a more productive way.”
University President Morton Schapiro condemned the attack in an email to students, calling it “an abhorrent act of vandalism.”
“Northwestern is committed to creating a safe, secure and welcoming environment for all of our students, faculty and staff,” Schapiro said in the email. “This disgusting act of hatred violates the deepest values and core commitments of our University and is an affront to us all.”
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