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Pro-ISIS Graffiti Painted On Rock At Youngstown State University In Ohio

By Tara Dodrill
Published on: 08:09 PST, Nov 24, 2015

Pro-ISIS graffiti was painted on a rock at Youngstown State University in Ohio. The large rock was located just outside on the Kilcawley Center in a major walkway on the campus and is considered an iconic symbol at the college.

The Youngstown State University (YSU) ISIS graffiti was found during the early morning hours on Monday. Campus maintenance workers quickly used white paint to cover the threatening Islamic State messages. Many students felt a simple coat of white paint was not sufficient and made plans to paint an American Flag on the historic rock, American Thinker reports.

The pro-ISIS graffiti on the rock at Youngstown State University has some residents very concerned.

https://youtu.be/YN_fk6AlUYc

YSU senior Jordan Wolfe created a Facebook page dedicated to the effort to repaint the rock featuring the pro-ISIS graffiti. Wolfe is a Boardman native and a political science major at YSU. He said the repainting project is really an effort to showcase what the Ohio university is all about and to erase from memory the Islamic State threats against the United States painted on the rock. According to Wolfe, an international student said the words written in Arabic were misspelled in the graffiti message.

The pro-ISIS graffiti messages on the YSU rock said, “We are coming,” “France Deserves Destruction,” and “YSU supports ISIS.” Officials at the Ohio university believe the graffiti was painted sometime between late Sunday evening and early Monday morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, about 30 Youngstown State University students converged on the rock and repainted it with a host of pro-American messages. The words now adorning the iconic symbol at YSU include “God Bless America” and “Land of the Free,” as well as a spray-painted depiction of the American Flag.

YSU Associate Vice President for University Relations Shannon Tirone said campus police have contacted both local law enforcement agencies and the FBI regarding the investigation into the ISIS graffiti. The school does not reportedly feel that the ISIS message painted on the rock represents a credible threat.

“Unfortunately, this is the world we live in today,” Tirone said.

FBI Special Agent Todd Werth, who is attached to the Youngstown office of the federal agency, said bureau officials take any ISIS threats seriously. Werth added that even though the incident is being thoroughly investigated, there is no specific or credible threat against either Youngstown State University or the Youngstown area, NewsNet 5 reports.

YSU students who stopped to look at the rock shared thoughts of both fear and anger about the pro-ISIS graffiti.

Below is an excerpt from the Youngstown State University message issued to the campus and the public after the ISIS graffiti vandalism was discovered.

“Messages were found painted on the rock on the Youngstown State University campus core on Monday, Nov. 23, that were found to be of concern. YSU Police are investigating the situation. The FBI was contacted as a precautionary measure. No threats have been validated at this time. Police are continuing to look into the matter. There is no credible threat to the campus at this time.”

A campus alert was issued on Tuesday morning to inform both students and staff about the pro-ISIS graffiti incident. The message urged anyone with any knowledge about the incident to contact campus police at 330-941-3527.

What do you think about the pro-ISIS graffiti on the Youngstown State University rock?

[Image via Twitter]

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