Campus Safety is “vigorously” investigating the defacement of a Weinstein Hall door “with antisemitic graffiti” that took place Tuesday night, President Linda Mills and Campus Safety head Fountain Walker said in a universitywide memo Wednesday morning.
Walker and Mills said that the university is “providing support to the victim” and has cleared the graffiti from the door. NYU’s Title VI Coordinator’s Office and the New York City Police Department are investigating the incident, which they called “a terrible violation of our community’s rules and norms.”
“The targeting of a Jewish student is inexcusable raw hatred,” the administrators said in the memo. “NYU has a zero-tolerance policy towards antisemitism and other forms of hatred.”
In a Campus Clery email sent around 10 minutes earlier, Walker said that the incident took place between 10 and 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night. He also said Campus Safety currently lacks information on the suspect and urged students to come forward with any knowledge of the matter. Walker did not respond to WSN’s request for comment.
This marks the second publicly addressed perpetration against Jewish students since the academic year has ramped up. On Aug. 31, a student’s mezuzah was stolen from their Weinstein Hall dorm door. The university and NYPD closed the investigation into the incident as an antisemitic hate crime on Sept. 5 after the mezuzah was “voluntarily” returned.
In a statement to WSN, NYU Hillel Vice President and Steinhardt junior Carolyn Bernstein said that the number of hate crimes this year is “upsetting” and that “the collective student body should only serve to support each other.”
“This is larger than ‘No place for hate at NYU,’” Bernstein said. “We have a collective moral obligation to protect each other from this kind of violence and that includes not committing it in the first place.”
Both incidents were also reported to Title VI coordinator David Krieger, who was appointed in March as part of a settlement with Jewish students who alleged the university dismissed on-campus antisemitism following a surge in protests against the war in Gaza. Following NYU’s announcement of the position, several other universities have created similar titles amid the Trump administration’s criticism of the colleges as antisemitic. At the end of August, New York State also passed a law mandating the position at higher education institutions.
The incidents also come after vandalism of a Muslim prayer room in April. The prayer room, located in Bobst Library, was found with urination on prayer mats and illustrations of male genitalia on the walls.
“We are committed to maintaining a community where all feel safe and welcome, and to eliminating antisemitism and other forms of hatred,” Walker and Mills said. “We ask that everyone join us in this effort to uphold our values and send an unambiguous signal about the kind of behavior we won’t stand for in our community.”
Contact Amanda Chen at [email protected].
