BUZZ
Campus vandalism has primarily targeted Jewish students, but ‘hateful’ messages also have been directed at Muslims and other racial groups
San Jose State University police arrested a suspect Wednesday for allegedly making terroristic threats and going on a months-long vandalism spree that primarily targeted Jewish students.
The university police announced the arrest online, stating that the suspect is “believed to be responsible for multiple hate-speech graffiti incidents and threatening messages discovered across the SJSU campus over the past several months.”
“I express my deep appreciation to our University Police Department and all those who worked tirelessly throughout this investigation,” university President Cynthia Teniente-Matson wrote in a campus-wide message Thursday.
“These incidents have caused real harm across our campus. In particular, our Jewish and Muslim students, faculty, and staff are experiencing the tragedy and hateful rhetoric intensely,” Teniente-Matson wrote.
Police did not mention any details about the suspect, such as whether the individual is affiliated with the university, but the individual has been banned from campus, according to the announcement.
The suspect is facing multiple charges of felony vandalism and felony publishing threats, according to police.
“The incidents, which have persisted through the academic year, included graffiti containing antisemitic, Islamophobic, racial and/or discriminatory slurs, as well as threats of violence against these groups and the entire campus community,” police stated.
Since October, the California university has witnessed a spree of racist graffiti targeting Jews as well as Muslims and other groups. In March and April, the graffiti included terroristic threats toward Jews, The Jerusalem Post reports:
On March 4, threats were scrawled into the same hall’s bathroom. According to correspondence between the California State University Chancellor’s Office and [U.S. Sen. Bill] Cassidy, these threats included a terrorist attack on March 11.
“SJSU, Sorry, But for Allah 3/11 Will Be 9/11,” was graffitied alongside “Kill All Jews,” according to Cassidy. Other messages seemed to promise the “goal” of “five Jews min[imum]” and to “make [Al Qaeda leader] Osama [Bin Laden] proud.”
In response, the university’s police bolstered their manpower and began to work with other law enforcement agencies.
Similar threats were made again on March 24, with graffiti threatening violence against Jews in bathroom stalls, according to the SJSUPD. Further threatening graffiti was discovered in the bathrooms again on April 3 and April 8.
Two more messages were left on April 28, at the Student Union and the Art Building, threatening an attack on May 4.
As The College Fix reported in March, some of the graffiti found on campus included messages in a campus bathroom, one calling for the “eradication of Jews” and another stating “Kill all Jews.”
At the time, a campus Jewish leader said the repeat incidents left many in the community fearful that violence will be next.
“We have seen physical violence in the past and my concern is that we’ll see more,” SJSU Jewish Faculty and Staff Association President Philip Heller told ABC 7.
Heller also said he has been pleased with university administrators’ attention to the problem: “We need to have a lot of listening and talking. And I am happy to say that there’s been quite a bit of movement and genuine interest on the part of the administration in making things much safer for Jews.”
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