Indiana University
Indiana UniversityiStock

Indiana University (IU) has put together a task force to fight anti-Semitic acts occurring on campus.

Incidents include reports of four mezuzahs being torn down at the college’s Bloomington campus in October in the weeks after Rosh Hashanah, a Jewish student assaulted at a campus party in 2019, and a threatening anti-Semitic online post from 2018 accusing Jews of taking over the university.

In the most recent case, as many as a dozen mezuzahs may have been stolen from dorm room doors, WTHR reported.

"It's sort of a thing that where you walk into a room with a mezuzah, you like touch it and kiss it. It's almost a sense of security and togetherness," Jewish student Kaylee Werner told the news outlet. "That's my Jewish neighbor. Like, we have each other's backs. They have a mezuzah. I have a mezuzah."

IU Hillel reported a recent increase in anti-Semitism at the university, noting that in the last month two campus quads were defaced and a female student was hit with verbal abuse.

Several weeks ago, IU Hillel put together a task force to fight anti-Semitism. The dean of students, the UI bias response team and the university’s residential programs and services lent their support.

The college has also placed training staff in all dormitories to teach about Judaism, anti-Semitism and hatred. There is also a new Mezuzah Project chapter, to make mezuzahs available all over the campus.

"The idea is to see [the mezuzahs] spread all over, to show IU can make a big statement, that we stand with each other, no matter what," Werner said.