{"id":745,"date":"2019-07-17T18:18:46","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wcsu.wpengine.com\/news-archives\/originsoftheswastika\/"},"modified":"2019-07-17T18:18:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T18:18:46","slug":"originsoftheswastika","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/originsoftheswastika\/","title":{"rendered":"WestConn lecture to focus on origins of the swastika"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DANBURY, CONN. <\/strong>\u2014 After several swastikas \u2014 a symbol nowadays most commonly linked with Germany\u2019s Nazi Party during World War II \u2014 were recently discovered on the Midtown campus of Western Connecticut State University, it sent a shockwave through the community.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s terrible that such things happen, but the reason it happens is that the swastika has become a symbol of all bad things,\u201d said Dr. Wynn Gadkar-Wilcox, assistant professor of History and Non-Western Cultures, \u201cand people don\u2019t understand the context.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Gadkar-Wilcox and Dr. Michael Nolan, also an assistant professor of History and Non-Western Cultures, will hold a discussion at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 19, to discuss the symbol that grabs attention as an international symbol of heinous crimes against humanity.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is part of an educational effort to get people to understand what its origins were and how it was appropriated by the Nazis,\u201d said Gadkar-Wilcox.<\/p>\n

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The lecture comes on the heels of one incident in particular in which a student allegedly outlined two symbols on the wet window of another student\u2019s car. A third symbol was found in a bathroom in the Haas library and has been removed.<\/p>\n

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Although it\u2019s seen as a generic symbol of rebellion and hatred, Gadkar-Wilcox said, the swastika is also a sacred symbol for Hindus and Buddists. The religious symbol sometimes appears as an inverted form of the Nazi swastika, but not always. They frequently grace the entrances of Buddhist and Hindu houses of worship and appear in Buddhist literature.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn the religious arena, it represents the concept that the world is constantly changing,\u201d said Gadkar-Wilcox, who maintains that the user\u2019s intention denotes the symbol\u2019s meaning. That\u2019s why he and Nolan wanted to bring the swastika\u2019s history into focus.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOur students need to know why this symbol may be frightening or hateful \u2026 and they also need to know why the symbol is considered sacred to Hindus or Buddhists. If people understand both these things, these incidents are less likely to occur.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople are motivated to use the symbol not because they want to express hatred but because someone has told them not to use it \u2014 it\u2019s something taboo,\u201d said Gadkar-Wilcox. \u201cThe antidote to that problem is to explain to people why they should or should not use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For more information, contact the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.<\/p>\n

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Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England\u2019s best small private universities.
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DANBURY, CONN. \u2014 After several swastikas \u2014 a symbol nowadays most commonly linked with Germany\u2019s Nazi Party during World War II \u2014 were recently discovered on the Midtown campus of Western Connecticut State University, it sent …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-745","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/745\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wcsu.edu\/news-archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}