The ISU Police Department is investigating a report that a campus statue depicting a prominent, African-American Iowa State alumnus has been vandalized.

The George Washington Carver statue outside of Carver Hall was vandalized with shaving cream, which authorities believe took place sometime Friday between 1 and 4 p.m.

According to a statement released over e-mail from President Steven Leath on Sunday, the motive is not yet known.

“The university takes this act of vandalism very seriously and is conducting a thorough investigation to determine if this was racially motivated,” Leath said in the e-mail. “Anyone involved will be held accountable.”

The extent of the damage to the statue, if any, is unknown, according to the statement.

Annette Hacker of ISU news service said Lynette Pullman, director of University Museums, examined the statue on Monday. Shaving cream, she said, is a corrosive material, but the statue cannot be more thoroughly examined until weather permits.

Carver was Iowa State’s first African-American student who came to the university in 1891 and went on to become a well-known agriculturalist. 

Anyone with any information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact ISU Police at 515-294-4428.