Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Anti-Semitism Watchdogs Rap Northwestern’s President over Handling of Swastikas

(JTA) — A group of 23 anti-Semitism watchdog groups called on Northwestern University’s president to take additional steps to combat anti-Semitism on campus following swastika incidents.

In a letter to Morton Schapiro, the groups said that they were concerned about a letter Schapiro sent to the campus community after two swastikas were found last week in the university library, the Daily Northwestern reported Tuesday.

“While we are pleased that you issued a statement, we are concerned that your message neglected to publicly acknowledge that a swastika is an anti-Semitic symbol associated with genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people,” the letter said.

The letter also called on Schapiro to educate the university’s staff in recognizing anti-Semitic hate crimes and designate resources to educating students about discrimination against Jews.

In a response obtained by the Daily Northwestern, Schapiro said he was not concerned about any threats to the safety of Jewish students on campus. He said that the university would take action to ensure the safety of its students if such a threat existed.

In his letter to the campus community, Schapiro, who is Jewish, called the swastika incident “offensive to the entire Northwestern community.”

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version