Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF) painted the Tufts cannon at midnight on Sunday, Apr. 16 with an Easter message as part of their celebration of Holy Week.
But churchgoers walking to mass on Easter Morning in Goddard Chapel saw that the cannon had received a second paint job overnight that many considered unfortunate.
The cannon was first painted white all over, with yellow stripes on the wheels. Spring-green paint read, "JESUS IS ALIVE" and "YOU ARE LOVED."
This lettering was crossed out with black paint. On one side appeared a Jewish star, also in black, and the message, "Happy Passover."
A Jewish star also covered over a cross painted on the butt of the cannon.
TCF members did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
"As a future rabbi I was extremely embarrassed by actions of what I can only assume were fellow Jews," said senior Mara Judd, former Hillel President. "This was not an accurate representation of Jewish kids on campus, especially not Hillel.
"[Whoever did the second cannon painting] probably didn't do it maliciously ... but I wish they would have considered how they would have felt if someone did [the same thing] to a 'Happy Passover' cannon. I am saddened that someone felt it necessary to do something so childish."
Judd stressed that Hillel as an organization should not be implicated in this incident. "I think that it's Hillel's role to speak out and to say these actions were not condoned by us, nor will they be, and to continue the very effective and far-reaching interfaith programming that we've been doing this year and years before," she said.
