Four students, whose identities have not been disclosed, are facing felony criminal mischief charges after allegedly posting “Wanted” posters targeting Jewish faculty members at the University of Rochester in New York, JNS reported on Wednesday.
The posters were styled to resemble FBI “Most Wanted” fliers, featuring the faces of professors and staff members alongside accusations such as “Misuse of Power and Racism,” “Abuse of Power,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” and “Displacement of Palestinians.”
On Tuesday, Quchee Collins, associate vice president for the Department of Public Safety and the university’s chief public safety officer, issued a statement addressing the incident.
“While I regret that this deeply disturbing incident took place on our campus, I am incredibly satisfied that through a thorough investigation, we were able to identify those who are allegedly responsible,” he said, as quoted by JNS.
Collins also clarified why hate crime charges were not pursued. “DPS investigators collected all of the necessary evidence and made all of the needed inquiries to prompt a proper evaluation of this incident as a hate crime,” he explained. “It’s our current understanding that these actions do not meet the legal threshold for being a hate crime, according to the feedback we received from various law-enforcement authorities who ultimately make the final determination.”
A fifth individual is still under investigation. University officials noted that the adhesives used to affix the posters caused damage to walls, floors, and chalkboards.
One of the targeted individuals, Joy Getnick, executive director of the university’s Hillel chapter, told JNS, “We appreciate the university and law enforcement’s quick and thorough investigation into the wanted posters. These deeply disturbing posters spread harmful antisemitic ideas about the Jewish people and Israel in an attempt to sow fear.”
Getnick further emphasized the need for action, stating, “We hope this is an opportunity for the university to reflect on what is needed to ensure that UR is a place where Jewish life can fully and safely thrive.”
The incident is the latest in a series of incidents of antisemitism on US campuses. Such incidents have been on the uptick since Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
A similar incident occurred at DePaul University, where an anti-Israel organization posted a wanted poster with the face of a Jewish student who was hospitalized and suffered a concussion after being assaulted from behind by a pair of masked attackers.
Last week, anti-Israel vandals came to the home of University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce and left pro-Hamas messages on the premises and on her car.
The US House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently released a 122-page report which detailed what it termed "astonishing concessions" by officials at numerous schools, including Harvard, Columbia, Yale, MIT, UCLA, and Rutgers to antisemitic protesters who disrupted campuses and threatened Jewish students and staff.