Hamilton College student arrested after mural project was defaced with hate speech

A Hamilton College sophomore from South Dakota was arrested after admitting to defacing a mural on the Clinton campus with anti-Semitic comments, state police and university officials said.

Adyn S. Brenden, 19, has been charged with first-degree harassment, a misdemeanor, state police said. He will appear in Kirkland District Court on Tuesday, October 15.

“Brenden is currently not at the college,” college officials said in a statement, without providing any details about his departure or any discipline that has or may be taken against him.

The council’s statement supported the state police report on the incident but did not specify exactly what Brenden, who describes himself on social media as a cartoonist, drew or wrote.

State police said only that they were called to campus around 4:18 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11, after receiving a report of “anti-Semitic comments posted on art canvases around campus.”

The police report further referred to “damaging university property with hate speech.”

The college’s statement said that on Thursday evening, October 10, a “community mural project was vandalized” and that campus officials identified Brenden as the subject the following day.

The statement goes on to refer to “hate speech graffiti.”

About the charges against Adyn Brenden

A charge of aggravated harassment in the first degree means that a person took one of several specific actions (such as damaging a religious building, or drawing or displaying swastikas or nooses on a building) “with the intent to harass another.” attack, irritate, threaten or alarm. person, because of a belief or perception regarding the person’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, whether or not the belief or perception is correct.

A charge of aggravated harassment in the first degree may also be filed if a person is charged with aggravated harassment in the second degree after a prior conviction for aggravated harassment in the first or second degree.

The penalty for a conviction for aggravated harassment in the first degree is a maximum of four years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

After arriving at the college on Saturday, the New York State Police Marcy Bureau of Criminal Investigation conducted interviews and reviewed video surveillance.

They then found Brenden in his dorm room and he agreed to talk to them. He was taken into custody after admitting to posting the alleged hate speech.

“Hamilton College is grateful to the NYSP and Campus Safety for their collaboration in response to this situation,” the college statement concluded. “Hamilton College is committed to maintaining a safe campus, free from bias, discrimination or harassment, where students have full access to their education and where all people are treated with respect.”

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Details about Adyn Brenden

On his Facebook page, Brenden, who comes from a farm in Mission Hill, South Dakota, describes himself as a “hairy Catholic and cartoonist.”

His latest post features a cartoon drawing of someone sitting on a throne, with two figures in what appear to be ceremonial robes standing just behind him. Brenden posted a sentence with the cartoon: “The theocrat presides as agent of family and faith in his state.”

A few posts earlier, Brenden quoted Archbishop Charles J. Chaput: “Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, and then tries to silence good.”

In an article about the Class of 2027’s thoughts on Hamilton, posted on the university website on March 29, Brenden talks about how much he loves the campus library (including his first visit when he saw an exhibition of Calvin & Hobbes comics); Native American Studies, his favorite freshman class; and the Gothic St. Mary’s Church, his favorite place to visit off campus.

During his first semester at university, he also studied computer science, drawing and New Testament literature. The profile listed a number of Brendent’s university activities, including gaming, running, role-playing, chess and writing clubs and the Newman Council, a Catholic student group. And Brenden wanted to start a billiards club on campus, the profile said.

And he enjoyed spending his free time reading about theology, playing the piano, drawing comics and meeting and talking to people, especially those with “unique perspectives,” Brenden said.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Hamilton College student charged; permitted anti-Semitic graffiti