Brooks Library staff discovered Sharpie grafitti throughout the library consisting of “partisan political statements and homophobic language,” according to the Dean of Libraries Rebecca Lubas. This writing was found in the back stairwell, in the elevator and in the maps room on Thursday night.

The graffiti in the stairwell and elevator were found Thursday night, and upon further inspection, the graffiti in the map room was found early Friday. Both the police and custodial calls were made Friday morning.

“It’s actually very frequently, unfortunately, that we deal with graffiti in the library,” Lubas said. “But the upsetting stuff about this was that, you know, it really was hate speech. After the fact that we had the incident this summer, with the rainbow flag, it’s particularly upsetting that this has happened more than once on our campus and in our community in a short space of time … [The library is] supposed to be a safe and welcoming space, and this type of language violated the very core of what we’re trying to do at the library, let alone at Central.”

In efforts to recover from this event, Lubas said the library will be attempting to co-sponsor events with the Womens and Gender Studies group. A teach-in will be held on a to be determined date in November, which includes informal lectures, readings and creative works all done by LGBTQ staff, students and faculty.

The library will also be starting book giveaways every week until the end of the quarter. The book giveaways will consist of LGBTQ titles, and for Halloween, the library will be giving away the graphic novel “Cemetery Boys,” and one of the main characters is transgender.

“We’re hoping to co-sponsor some events that they’ll have to teach about the LGBTQ community and their contributions to the community,” Lubas said. “That’s one way that I think we can help, by providing support … We want people to be welcome and feel seen and feel valued.”