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| Fifth Column |
| Swastika graffiti @ Rutgers |
| 2003-09-23 |
| Police are investigating a graffiti attack on several buildings on Rutgers University’s main campus in New Brunswick, including a Jewish community center and a fraternity house, as a bias crime. On Saturday morning, swastikas were found spray-painted on Rutgers Hillel. They were also painted on the porch and front door of Alpha Epsilon Pi, an historically Jewish fraternity. Three other buildings were damaged by spray paint, but no swastikas were painted on them, police said. Emmet Dennis, Rutgers’ vice president for student affairs, decried the incidents. "The despicable acts of anti-Semitic vandalism that were committed on and around the Rutgers College Avenue campus in New Brunswick this weekend were not only an attack on our students and our friends at whom they were aimed, but on the dignity and civility of the entire university community," he said. An anonymous caller to New Brunswick police reported seeing two men defacing the buildings early Saturday, but no other information on the suspects was available. The Anti-Defamation League is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. "For two years, Jewish students at Rutgers University have been subjected to some of the most virulent anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic activities in the country," said Shai Goldstein, the group’s New Jersey regional director. "These kinds of attacks are essentially attacks on America and democracy." The vandalism came shortly after Natan Sharansky, the Israeli human rights advocate and longtime Soviet dissident, spoke at the university Thursday night. And an idiotarian played slapstick on him. Rutgers Hillel has scheduled a rally for Oct. 9 as "our statement to those students who sneak out in the middle of the night to deface property and terrorize the community." Jewish groups at Rutgers have strongly protested a planned pro-Palestinian conference that had been scheduled for the campus in October. Earlier this month, Rutgers canceled the sponsoring group’s reservation for use of campus facilities, saying the group had failed to provide information required by the university from sponsors of any large-scale event on campus. |
| Posted by:Katz |
| #2 This is pretty big at LGF. Personally, I think a 2 by 4 or baseball bat is in order here, but what do I know? I remember now - I don't like Nazis... |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2003-9-23 6:27:03 PM |
| #1 Has Charlotte Kates issued a statement? After all, her organization, Palestinian Solidarity, opposes descrimination based on religion or national origin. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-9-23 1:39:03 PM |