Wiesenthal Center: Swastika Graffiti on Stanford Frat Incident ‘Of Grave Concern’ in Light of Nationwide Climate of Anti-Semitism on College Campuses

April 28, 2015

Center applauds Stanford President’s call for thorough investigation but questions why he did not condemn incident as anti-Semitic

     

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is calling the discovery of swastikas painted outside the Stanford chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity ‘of grave concern’ in light of growing hostility against Jewish students at Stanford and other universities across North America. Just recently, Molly Horwitz, a candidate for the Stanford Senate, endured scrutiny about her Jewish background while seeking endorsement from a campus group.

 

Stanford President John Hennessy was ‘deeply troubled’ by the vandalism, saying in a statement, “The University will not tolerate hate crimes and this incident will be fully investigated, both by campus police and by the University under our Acts of Intolerance Protocol.”

PHOTO COURTESY: Daniel Mael

 

“While we applaud President Hennessy for his call for a thorough investigation, he has yet to denounce the swastika vandalism as an act of anti-Semitism,” said Aron Hier, Director of Campus Outreach for the Wiesenthal Center. “We hope this isn’t just another example of a disturbing trend—the reticence of many university officials to condemn incidents of anti-Semitism as such,” Hier concluded.

 

Several messages to President Hennessy’s office have not been returned.

 

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036,  join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

 

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).