Massachusetts College Investigates ‘Anti-Semitic Harassment’ Against Student
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
BOSTON (JTA) — Campus police at a Massachusetts college are investigating an incident of harassment against a Jewish student.
The incident took place last week at Hampshire College, a small liberal arts school in Amherst, about 90 miles west of Boston.
The college’s president, Jonathan Lash, condemned the incident, but no further details have been released to the public.
In a memo to the Hampshire community, Lash wrote that the campus police responded to a report of “an act of blatant and deplorable anti-Semitism” that took place in the middle of the night in an area with student housing.”
“The incident is being treated as a criminal matter and is under active investigation,” he wrote. Lash urged anyone with information to immediately contact the campus police.
Robert Trestan, regional director of the New England Anti Defamation League, said while it’s important for the college to have the leeway to investigate, it must be followed up with transparency.
“It’s important for the community to know exactly what happened,” he told JTA in a phone conversation.
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 this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
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 this Passover 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.
