Goucher Student Charged In Racial Threats On College Campus

TOWSON, MD — Police said a Goucher student has been arrested in connection with two instances of bias-related graffiti at the college campus. A racially motivated threat and swastikas were written in dormitory bathrooms at the campus on Nov. 14 and Nov. 29, according to officials.

Fynn Ajani Arthur, 21, of the unit block of Spring Street in Brunswick, Maine, was charged with two counts of malicious destruction of property in the case.

Arthur, who studies and lives at Goucher College, allegedly vandalized a second-floor bathroom stall on Nov. 29 with racially charged graffiti that included swastikas, "KKK" and the last names of four black students, including his own. A student reported the vandalism at 2 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 29.

Police said he also used permanent black marker to post a swastika, racially motivated threat and the numbers of three dorm rooms that housed black male students in a first-floor bathroom stall in the dorm. That vandalism was reported at 4:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14.

"The students in those rooms were interviewed at the time and none could provide any suspect information or motive for the graffiti," police said. "One of those students was Arthur."

Students held a demonstration on campus to take a stand against racism on Friday, Nov. 16.

After the second report of bias graffiti, the FBI, Goucher public safety personnel and Baltimore County police collaborated on the investigation and traced both incidents to the same suspect.

Arthur was arrested at 6 p.m. on campus on Thursday, Nov. 29, according to authorities.

He was released on his own recognizance after a bail review hearing Friday, Nov. 30.

Investigators reportedly said they could place Arthur at the crime scenes electronically and also used the FBI for handwriting analysis. Charging documents obtained by WBAL said Arthur confessed to the crimes, stating he had "built-up anger" that prompted the first act of vandalism and had been drinking during the second.

Arthur was released to the custody of his parents, who said the behavior was not characteristic of their son, according to WBAL. The biracial public health and biology major, one semester away from graduating, was banned from the Goucher campus, according to the news station.

Members of the Goucher College community are now processing the new development in the case.

"Today our community is facing mixed emotions," Goucher President José A. Bowen and Vice President/Dean of Students Bryan F. Coker said in a statement on Friday, Nov. 30, noting they were "grateful that the individual responsible for the two recent hate crimes has been identified and removed from our campus" but at the same time were "shocked and saddened that these acts were committed by a member of our own College community."

They said they were also upset by the charges filed by law enforcement.

"Let us be clear—we view these incidents as hate crimes," the statement from the administrators said. "We are disappointed that the suspect has not yet been charged with a hate crime, and we are encouraging the State’s Attorney Office to do so. These acts of hate have consumed our community, and we feel strongly that the suspect should receive the strongest charges, which reflect the seriousness of these crimes."

• Goucher Bias Incident Under Investigation
• Hate Crimes In Maryland: FBI Report Shows Increase

The Federal Bureau of Investigation defines a hate crime as an offense such as vandalism, arson or murder that is motivated in part by the perpetrator's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender or gender identity.

Baltimore County had the highest number of hate crimes reported to the FBI and hate/bias incidents recorded by state law enforcement of all the jurisdictions in Maryland last year.

There were 103 hate/bias incidents and 10 hate crimes in Baltimore County in 2017, according to state and federal officials.

There was also an uptick in hate crimes on college campuses reported to the FBI, including in Maryland. The Chronicle of Higher Education, which said there were nearly 280 hate crimes on college campuses in the U.S. in 2017, said this was an "early indicator of campus-climate issues" across the country.

The murder on the University of Maryland College Park campus of a Bowie State University student was one of 15 hate-related killings nationwide in 2017 and the first on a college campus since 2006, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Photo of Fynn Ajani Arthur courtesy of the Baltimore County Police Department.