An investigation was underway Monday into the trashing of a 9/11 memorial at President Barrack Obama’s alma mater, Occidental College in Eagle Rock.
Vandals “crushed, snapped” and tossed 2,997 flags small American flags that were put in place in the quad area Saturday night by members of the Occidental College Republican Club, a student organization, as a 9/11 memorial. Sunday was the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Each flag represented a victim of the terror attacks, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. But by Sunday morning, the club reported that the memorial had been trashed.
On their Facebook page, the Occidental College Republican Club said that vandals had “crushed, snapped, and threw in the garbage every single flag. Not one was left on the ground.”
The group also said posters and flyers that “shamed the victims of 9/11” were posted on campus.
Occidental College issued a statement saying administrators don’t know yet who is responsible for the incident, but it is being investigated, and they ” will take disciplinary action.”
The college asks that anyone with information about the incident contact officials at conduct@oxy.edu.
President Obama attended Occidental from 1979 to 1981. Without graduating, he transferred to Columbia University and received his undergraduate degree from that New York school in 1983.
—City News Service