The Hillel member group B'Yachad filed a police report last month saying that their bulletin board in lower Usdan was vandalized repedeatly, most recently last month.According to Elizabeth Cape, B'Yachad's publicity coordinator, the incidents began last spring but increased in severity in recent months, even as the group took measures to make such vandalism more difficult.

Cape said she filed the police report after two related incidents that occurred in mid-November. She said that around 6 p.m. on Nov. 11, she found offensive material glued to the board and immediately removed it. She said that when she returned to Usdan the next morning, the poster was again vandalized.

According to Cape, the material consisted of a picture of a dancer, the B'Yachad symbol, being pushed or beaten. Adjacent to the picture was the phrase, "Take it B'Yach."

Director of Public Safety Ed Callahan said that the police were looking into "creative" ways to catch future vandals, the details of which he said he could not divulge.

Cape said that this was not the first time that the last two letters of the group's name were removed to form a colloquial variation on the expletive "bitch." She said that it happened to the main banner on the bulletin board several times last spring.

"Last year it was a joke," Cape said. "It was easy to rip down the letters."

Cape said that one of the incidents even involved some of her friends just giving her a hard time.

In an effort to prevent the defacing of the group's name, Cape spent approximately $10 of her own money to laminate a sign this year. She said that this did not put a stop to the vandalism.

"This year they put paper over the A and D," Cape said of an incident in October. "I think it was glued, but it came off easily when I pulled."

Cape said that the incident on Nov. 12 brought the vandalism to a new level because the placement of the offensive material prevented passing students from learning about the group and its upcoming performances.

"I would have to take the entire board down in order to get rid of [the vandalism]," Cape said.

As a result, the board still contains the offensive material.

"We can't imagine why anyone would want to be so malicious towards us," Cape said. "We are a dance group. We don't have anything against anyone. We just want to dance and have fun and get everyone involved in our dancing.