A reader alerted me to an incident on Vancouver Island’s Pearson College where during a visit Israeli consul-general Cobie Brosh was greeted by swastikas on the pavement, apparently the work of some of the institution’s students. While every incident of anti-Semitism is of course worthy of attention, this one in particular strikes me as suitable for further scrutiny given the mission statement of the college in question:

To provide an education, in the total sense, which will produce involved, active, educated citizens, whose attitudes of understanding and service will be a force against bigotry and hatred between peoples. To provide a practical demonstration that international education works and that it can build bridges of understanding between peoples.

Well, they need to spend a bit more time on building those bridges. To the college’s credit, they alerted the Canadian Jewish Congress for assistance who are now looking into the matter. Given the discrepancy of what Pearson understands its mission to be and the daily practicalities of inciting hate on its campus it probably needs all the help it can get.

NOTE: There’s no news link I can find on this for further information, so consider this to be some raw reporting. If more news becomes available, the post will be updated.

UPDATE: Vancouver island resident and blogger Ginna Dowler weighs in:

Pearson is famous on the island for providing UN-sponsored scholarships to Palestinian students. I don't know how many there are in any given year, but the presence of those students may have something to do with the incident.