Housatonic Community College

(JTA) — A community college in Connecticut fired a business professor who gave a Nazi salute at a faculty meeting days after the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.

Paul Broadie II, the president of Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, on Thursday announced the firing of Charles Meyrick for performing the gesture while shouting Nazi slogans on Nov. 2 in Manchester, reportedly to protest perceived authoritarianism by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system during its meeting, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

These actions by Meyrick took place “just days after the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and triggered several participants to exit the facility out of fear for their safety,” said Mark Ojakian, president of the colleges and universities system. His “threatening actions go far beyond acceptable discourse,” Ojakian added.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

At the synagogue, a far-right extremist killed 11 worshipers on Oct. 27.

Meyrick’s acts were during a meeting where faculty from multiple institutions of higher learning had gathered to discuss school consolidation.

According to the school investigation report , Meyrick acknowledged he shouted “sieg heil,” and gave a Nazi salute for several minutes from his seat in the crowd in the auditorium.

Police said they were called to the auditorium and after the meeting asked Meyrick to leave campus. Meyrick responded by asking, “What if I don’t?” and a lieutenant told him he’d be arrested, police said. Two officers then escorted him from campus without incident.

During an internal probe at his college, Meyrick agreed to apologize.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount