University reacts to ‘wanted’ posters of Jewish faculty: ‘Disturbing, divisive, and intimidating’

The explosion of antisemitism on college campuses is now targeting Jewish faculty members at the University of Rochester where pro-Hamas activists put up “wanted” posters with their pictures on them.

In a troubling story that has echoes of 1930s Germany, hundreds of posters accusing professors, members of the Board of Trustees, and senior university leaders were plastered in buildings around the campus, accusing them of enabling the “genocide” in Gaza after Israel’s military response to the October 7, 2023 attack on Jewish civilian areas, slaughtering over 1,200 people and taking more as hostages.

“Some posters alleged that a faculty member had engaged in ‘ethnic cleansing’ and contributed to the ‘displacement of Palestinians,’ while another faculty member was accused of ‘racism,’ ‘hate speech,’ and intimidation,” USA Today reported.

“I want to be as clear as I can that the University of Rochester strongly denounces the recent display of ‘wanted’ posters targeting senior university leaders and members of our faculty, staff, and Board of Trustees,” University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf said in a statement this week. “This act is disturbing, divisive, and intimidating and runs counter to our values as a university.”

(Video: YouTube/News10)

The Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that it believes that all of the offensive posters have been taken down and that “several persons of interest” have been identified including “current students, individuals whose current enrollment status is unclear, and other individuals.”

DPS said that it was first made aware of the “hundreds” of “wanted” posters on Sunday night and “immediately began working to remove the posters and return the spaces to their usual state.” The department said the removal process “is painstaking because of the strong adhesive used to affix the posters, which in some cases caused damage to walls, floors, chalkboards, and other surfaces.”

The department is continuing to investigate the disturbing antisemitic targeting of Jewish faculty members.

“The administration’s hasty jump to attribute these posters to antisemitism, without any proper investigation, comes across as an attempt to censor any discussion of the University of Rochester’s complicity in the Israeli army’s ongoing genocide in Gaza,” said the UR chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a radical left-wing group that has staged large scale anti-Israel protests since last October.

“JVP uses its Jewish identity to shield the anti-Israel movement from allegations of anti-Semitism and to provide the movement with a veneer of legitimacy,” the Anti-Defamation League states in its comprehensive report on Jewish Voice for Peace.

“We are engaged with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners, including the FBI, New York State Police, New York Attorney General’s office, the Rochester Police Department, Monroe County Sheriff’s office, and Monroe County District Attorney’s office, all of whom have offered resources and support. This collaborative approach strengthens our ability to address this incident comprehensively and effectively,” the DPS said in a statement.

Chris Donaldson

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