Students found the Center for Gender, Sexuality and Activism “ransacked and vandalized” March 27, according to a joint Instagram post made by the Quinobequin Student Front for Palestine — formerly known as Students for Justice in Palestine — Boston University CGSA and BU Young Democratic Socialists of America.
Political posters were torn off the wall, pride flags were taken down, a mural dedicated to sexual assault survivors was ripped and chairs and tables were flipped by an unknown perpetrator, according to the post.
“[Its] clear aim was to sabotage and destroy one of the very few spaces on campus designated to protect and support activist and marginalized communities since 2008,” the caption of the post reads. “BU administration bears full responsibility for this attack.”
Numerous BU student activist organizations work out of the CGSA, including the QSFP and BU YDSA, before the group’s April 11 suspension.
Members of the QSFP discovered the space in a state of disarray the morning of March 27 and informed the executive board of CGSA. CGSA leadership informed the University, which involved the Boston University Police Department and the center was temporarily shut down.
BUPD is investigating the incident, BU Spokesperson Colin Riley wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press.
Rose, who requested The Daily Free Press use a nickname to prevent doxxing, is a member of the QSFP and said the group has not received updates on the investigation and the center has been closed since.
“As far as we know, there’s been no work done to truly investigate this,” Rose said. “All we know is that this door has been locked for three weeks with no information from the [University administration].”
Security cameras are stationed outside both entrances to the CGSA, but students have not been informed of whether BUPD has been able to find the perpetrator from the footage.
E.G., who requested The Daily Free Press use her initials to protect her identity, regularly spends time in the center before work. E.G. said she arrived at the center around 8:30 a.m. March 27 and saw a person she didn’t recognize in the “ransacked” room.
“The person said that they had gotten approval from CGSA the night before to do cleaning,” E.G. said. “They didn’t really specify what the cleaning was, but they were walking around and saying ‘doesn’t it look better already?’”
E.G. said she was unsure whether the person she saw in the center was cleaning up the vandalism, or had caused it, but when she spoke with her friends who are also involved with CGSA, they told her cleaning permission wasn’t given to anyone.
“The person said that they had permission to clean up, and by ‘clean up,’ that could be either that it was worse than when I got in there, or that they caused it,” E.G. said. “I don’t know which is true.”
Star, a member of QSFP who requested The Daily Free Press use a nickname to protect their identity, said a description of this person was reported to BUPD three weeks ago and “nothing has come out of it.”
Rose said BU administration is using this incident to their advantage, in order to stop the work of student groups.
“After this attack, this ransacking, [administration] ended up being able to … make [CGSA] completely inaccessible to all of the clubs and organizations that use it,” Rose said. “That’s to their advantage.”
The joint Instagram post said the defacement “ aligned perfectly” with the “long-standing desires” of BU administration “to remove political posters,” “force activist clubs off campus,” and “increase surveillance of student organizers.”
In October 2024, Associate Dean of Students Nancy Martisen asked CGSA and QSFP to immediately remove all posters from the center’s walls, after receiving “complaints indicating that [QSFP’s] posters may create a perception of discrimination based on national origin in the space,” according an email obtained by The Daily Free Press.
Nathan Phillips, a BU ecology professor, said he has had similar issues with administration ordering BU facilities to remove signs from his office window. Phillips said the way BU administration is handling the defacement of the CGSA is another example of free speech suppression on campus.
“BU needs to think about what values we’re upholding, or not, by suppressing political expression,” Phillips said.
Lolly Spindler, a 2010 BU graduate and co-founder of CGSA, said she was inspired to establish the center in 2008 after learning there had been a similar center at BU in the 1970s — The Women’s Center — that she said was closed by administration due to students’ protest of the Vietnam War.
“BU got rid of it as a penalty for the student body protesting,” Spindler said. “So that’s kind of interesting that the same thing is happening right now. History does repeat itself.”
Spindler said she was heartbroken to learn about the incident on social media.
“[We] fought so hard to open it and to see how acts of hate have left a mark is just heartbreaking,” Spindler said.
The joint Instagram post said when the center reopens, the University plans to limit its hours to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and station a security guard at the front door.
Rose criticized the administration’s lack of communication with the BU community.
“A hate crime clearly occurred on campus that the Boston University community was never made aware of,” Rose said.
Star said the administration’s silence on this incident sends the message that they do not care about protecting their students.
“They will say ‘everyone is welcome and we love everyone,’ but when it actually comes down to protecting their students, they don’t care,” Star said.
