A black, spray-painted message reading, “F*** the Stater racist. F*** the Kent Stater,” awaited those working the deadline shift at the Daily Kent Stater Monday night.

Tyrel Linkhorn, junior newspaper journalism major, discovered the vandalism a little after 10:30 p.m. when he walked into the hallway from the newsroom. He said his initial reaction was surprise.

“Another thing I was thinking was, ‘How could someone do this on a day that 32 people had been shot?'” Linkhorn said, referring to the shootings at Virginia Tech Monday. He said it was a time when people should be “putting things in perspective.”

Police saw no suspicious people around Taylor Hall after the incident, according to the police report. Maintenance workers cleaned the paint off the glass doors soon after.

Stater editor Seth Roy said the paper has been running dialogue about the issue of racism on the Forum page this week, and he has been meeting with black students to discuss the issues they may have with the paper.

“Some people think the Stater is racist, obviously,” Roy said. “And some people think we’re doing a fine job of covering the university.”

He said the vandalism might reflect the views of certain students, or it might have been retaliation to an error in Monday’s paper when a headline on the Forum page used the word “colored” instead of “black.”

Stater adviser Carl Schierhorn said the paper has “done some things that the people in the minority communities have not been pleased about,” and the Stater has “never been able to overcome that.”

He said the Stater attempted to assemble a minority advisory committee, but it never quite happened. The idea, Schierhorn said, is still viable, and he wishes to discuss it with the fall Stater editor.

Anyone wishing to discuss issues they have with the Stater may e-mail Seth Roy at [email protected] or call him at (330) 672-0885.

Contact safety reporter Morgan Day at [email protected].