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Tim Post
St. Cloud, Minn.

No charges will be filed in St. Cloud State swastika case

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St. Cloud City Attorney Jan Peterson says an 18-year old SCSU freshman did not commit a crime when he drew a swastika on the chalkboard outside a student's room earlier this month.

Peterson says while the symbol is offensive, it's covered under freedom of speech. And he says because the swastika was easily erased it's not considered damage to property.

The student told police officials he drew the symbol to see if it would attract media attention.

The student denied any involvement in the more than 20 similar incidents of swastika graffiti that have been found on campus since last November.

University President Earl Potter said the student's behavior "will certainly be reviewed under the (university's) code of conduct," though it's unlikely that the most severe punishment will come out of that process since the student was not charged.

St. Cloud State University officials said recently while some of those incidents have targeted individuals, most are what they consider immature copycat behavior and cannot be considered hate crimes.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report)