A blue flag with a Star of David, two swastikas and the letters “NYU” was waving on the roof of the Steinhardt building as hundreds of graduates and family members walked along West Fourth Street during NYU’s annual Grad Alley event shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Passersby at the outdoor celebration spotted the flag — which repeatedly moved up and down the flagpole — before it was removed around 15 minutes later. Shortly after, at least four New York City Police Department officers and five Campus Safety personnel entered the building. An NYU staff member who requested to remain anonymous told WSN the NYPD will review camera footage in the next few days and potentially investigate the incident as a hate crime.
“We are shocked and deeply troubled that this hateful symbol expressing antisemitism was raised on a flagpole overlooking Washington Square Park,” NYU spokesperson Wiley Norvell said in a statement to WSN. “Campus Safety responded immediately to remove it and we are working closely with the NYPD to identify whoever is responsible.”
The staff member said the roof is typically locked and inaccessible to students, but that campus safety or other employees may have access. They said an NYU administrator first reported the incident to the Campus Safety department, although it is unclear who took the flag down.
Tisch senior Max Bolen said he noticed it at around 5:15 p.m. while standing with his friends by Bobst Library.
“It definitely looked like it was bobbing up and down, and it was hidden behind the wall so you couldn’t see it for like a solid minute and then it would come back,” Bolen, a Jewish student, said in an interview with WSN.
NYU Hillel president and CAS junior Adina Fridman told WSN the incident was “broader pattern in which antisemitism is increasingly dismissed or normalized under the guise of political expression.”
“Symbols tied to the genocide of millions of Jews carry profound pain and trauma, and their use has no place in a campus community that values dignity, safety, and respectful dialogue,” Fridman wrote in a statement. “I appreciate the swift response of the university in removing the display shortly after it was reported and for taking the incident seriously.”
Last December, Campus Safety and the NYPD investigated graffiti displaying a swastika alongside profanities directed toward Indian, Black and Jewish students at NYU’s Dibner Library as a hate crime. In September, Campus Safety also investigated defacement of a Weinstein Hall door “with antisemitic graffiti.” Around a week prior, Campus Safety also looked into an antisemitic hate crime after a student’s mezuzah was stolen from their Weinstein dorm door.
Amanda Chen contributed reporting.
Contact Leena Ahmed and Yezen Saadah at [email protected].
Annaliesle • May 14, 2026 at 7:57 pm
This has to stop. We are an embarrassment to the world looking on and nothing less than swift action to prosecute those responsible is required. Shut down the institutions that are repeat offenders.
Asher Garber • May 14, 2026 at 3:05 pm
Obviously, NYU has an active SJP group. This is what 30 months of letting Jew haters determine the conversation over Israel gets you. The only thing antisemitic students learn on campus is that it’s okay to be an antisemite.
Maasi Shamilov, MD • May 14, 2026 at 12:45 am
When you see for the past 2 years rise of so many cowardly antisemitic acts, frequently by individuals who are covering their faces, you inadvertently asking yourself are they from the extreme left or right. With enough effort, in our day and age, there is no problem to find out who they are. Unfortunately, today both sides infected with hate towards Jewish people.
Fred Upp • May 14, 2026 at 1:59 pm
I mostly share my disgust for Zionists who claim their “religion” for all of Israel. You lump all of the Jewish people together as Israeli’s. Not so doctor. You want to find out who these people are, you say. Then there is Adina writing, “Symbols tied to the genocide of millions of Jews carry profound pain and trauma, and their use has no place in a campus community that values dignity, safety, and respectful dialogue,”
What both of you do not understand or recognize is the genocide that YOU commit around the world with US assistance, against other peoples. You are your worse enemy and we are tired of hearing you cry double standards for Zionists with no remorse. No more!
Izzy • May 21, 2026 at 4:53 am
Zionism, the belief that Jews should have a country in their historic homeland free from persecution, is opposed by orthodox Israeli Jews because it is a secular movement. You are parroting antisemitic propaganda that is divorced from reality.
Ned Ryerson • May 16, 2026 at 6:04 am
Don’t agree Massi – just about all this antisemitism today is on the left, a product of the new “Red-Green” Alliance – i,e, communists/islamists see a common enemy in the Jews. This unfortunately is not new (WWII Axis) and persists today with the likes of Mandami. We would like to believe the media reports of KKK and antisemitism on the right but there really little evidence of this. How do you explain that 80+% of Orthodox Jews vote Republican?