More than 100 people gathered in front of Parks Library on Tuesday to show support for diversity at Iowa State in response to hate graffiti found on campus last week.

Marcia Purdy, secretary at the Sloss House and graduate student in educational leadership and policy studies, said the purpose of the rally was to show support for all groups at the university.

“I guess I would call it a visible show of support for the university.”

Purdy said the rally was important for ISU faculty, students and staff.

“They were all represented at the rally,” she said.

Warren Blumenfeld, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, and one of the rally’s organizers, said the rally drew many people from the ISU community together, as well as people from off campus.

“It brought together a wide spectrum of people from both on campus and off,” he said. “Some people traveled some distance to come.”

Purdy said the turnout shows how strongly people feel about the graffiti.

“The number of people there said something about the university’s strong stance,” she said.

Thomas Hill, vice president for student affairs, said the people responsible for the graffiti know their beliefs are a minority.

“It is something that is disgusting,” he said. “What is consistent is that the perpetrators know and understand that it is not accepted, and that’s why it happened when it did.”

Hill said it was essential that the perpetrators are found.

“[It is] important to let people know that this type of behavior is not appropriate and it is not accepted and we will try to find whoever it is that did it,” he said.

Blumenfeld said the rally was a great success.

“People used words like ‘awesome,’ ‘needed’ and ‘cleansing,” he said.

“It went for an hour and a half because there were a lot of people that wanted to speak,” he said.

Purdy said she is disappointed that the messages of the Women’s Center are not getting out to everyone.

“My reaction to the graffiti was dismay that the positive messages are not getting out to these individuals,” Purdy said. “I feel that they really don’t understand what we represent.”

Pete Englin, director of the Department of Residence, said the rally demonstrated Iowa State’s commitment to being “fair and just” to all members of the community.

“We need to respond when these acts occur in our campus community and take the time to keep it from happening again,” he said.

Blumenfeld said people were very grateful for the rally.

“It gave them a venue to express their concerns about the graffiti that happened on campus,” he said. “People felt they needed a place to discuss the issues in a safe supportive environment.”

He also said they reviewed two letters of support.

One of the letters was from the commissioners of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. The other was from Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

“It is a way to place the light of scrutiny on these events so they don’t go unchallenged,” he said.