Canada College Football Field Defaced With Swastika in Snow
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
A large swastika was found drawn into the snow on the football field Friday at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.
“This really brought me back to reality that this is something that does exist and I do have to be concerned about it,” Laura Medicoff, head of the school’s Jewish Students Association, told CBC News.
By Saturday the swastika was re-etched into the word “hope.” But students and faculty took to social media to discuss the hate crime.
One Jewish student, Caroline Kovesi, tweeted the need for an institutionalized change: “After the investigation, I want to see real change & absolute commitment to zero tolerance/real consequences to hate.”
Kovesi, a fifth-year sociology and philosophy student, told CBC News that she would refrain from telling her grandparents, all of whmo are Holocaust survivors, about the incident.
“It’s just such a disgrace to all of my family members who were murdered in the Holocaust,” she said.
The school said the vandalism did not reflect the culture at the university.
“In response to last evening’s expression of hate on Alumni Field, we stand with our community with a message of hope,” it said.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
