Swastika T-Shirt Vendor Kicked Off USC Campus

Swastika T-shirts on sale at USC campus Image by screenshot/NBC

By Nathan Guttman February 17, 2017

A Nazi symbol or a piece of art?

A vendor at the University of Southern California tried to explain that T-shirts featuring swastikas he was selling on campus were no more than an artistic expression.

But according to a report on the local NBC news, the campus rabbi did not share the artistic value of the Nazi-symbol T-shirt and alerted campus authorities, who asked the vendor to leave.

Rabbi Dov Wagner explained on Facebook that “art should not be a cover for hate.”

In a statement, the USC press office said that the T-shirt stand was removed because it created disruption on campus. “The merchandise the vendor was selling did not meet community standards, per USC guidelines for vendors who wish to sell goods and services on campus.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.