A student ‘voluntarily’ came forward to return a mezuzah after taking it from the door of a Weinstein Hall dorm on Saturday, leading NYU to close its investigation into the incident as an antisemitic hate crime. 

In a Friday memo, Campus Safety head Fountain Walker said that “while problematic judgement was demonstrated, the investigation of the incident as an antisemitic incident should be closed.” NYU spokesperson John Beckman did not respond to additional questions regarding the perpetrator’s intent.

The hate crime investigation, done in collaboration with the New York City Police Department, opened immediately after the mezuzah was taken. In a universitywide email relaying the initial incident, Walker had provided a brief description of the perpetrator and encouraged them to come forward. 

In the Friday statement, Walker also said administrators “want to acknowledge the solidarity shown on campus in rejecting the spectre of antisemitism and hate.” The comment comes after several student groups, including NYU’s Muslim Student Association and Black Muslim Initiative, condemned the incident on their Instagram accounts. 

The incident was also reported to the Title VI coordinator David Krieger, whose position was created as part of NYU’s settlement with Jewish students who said the university overlooked antisemitic acts in slews of protests against the war in Gaza. Krieger marks the first person in American universities to assume a position of his kind. 

This is the second time university administrators have publicly addressed inflictions against religious symbols and practices on campus this year. In April, a Muslim prayer room in Bobst Library was vandalized, involving urination on prayer mats and illustrations of male genitalia across the walls. 

“NYU shall continue to be vigilant, and to have a zero tolerance policy towards hate, bigotry, harassment, and discrimination,” Walker said.

Contact Amanda Chen and Dharma Niles at [email protected].