SALT LAKE CITY — The "Block U" that sits on the University of Utah campus was vandalized after it was wrapped in colors in support of Pride Week.
In a letter Monday, the university's LGBT Resource Center said the block was defaced on the morning of March 31, the Trans Day of Visibility. Vandals used duct tape in two different places on the block to write messages of hate.
After the vandalism was discovered, the incident was reported to the school's Racist and Bias Incident Response Team and University Police, which has opened an investigation.
Now in its second year, the "Pride U" is a new tradition on campus as officials hope to raise the visibility of Pride Week.
"It’s hard to reconcile a hostile act against this symbol of LGBTQIA+ power and community in the face of all the joy it brings, at a time of year when we come together as a campus to unapologetically celebrate contributions of LGBTQIA+ people and to take up space in ways we might not at other times of the year. It’s harder to know this vandalism exists in a larger culture of transphobic, homophobic, and racist acts that target our communities," the letter reads.
Anyone with information on the vandalism is asked to contact university police.
