Berkeley Police Say AEPi Shellfish Incident Was Not a Hate Crime
The Berkeley police have reportedly concluded that the dumping of shellfish on UC Berkeley’s Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) house on August 26 was not a hate crime.
The police told The Jewish News of Northern California (The J) on August 31 that they have concluded “that a hate crime did not occur” because “multiple fraternities had shellfish dumped in their yards on the early morning of August 26th. We want to reiterate that our department did not take this investigation lightly and confirmed through further investigation that the involved students did, in fact, not target Alpha Epsilon Pi.”
The Berkeley AEPi house said in an August 31 statement that “it has become known that at least one other fraternity was similarly vandalized though not because of antisemitism. While we can’t imagine the rationale for this, we are gratified to know that AEPi may not have been specifically singled out because of our commitment to being Jewish. Ignorance, however, does not excuse antisemitism and this event has contributed to an environment in which Jewish students are concerned for their safety and being discriminated against.” The AEPi house added that “at least some of the people who perpetrated this act have come forward to our chapter’s leadership and apologized for their actions.
NYU Law Says They Will Not Be Hosting Anti-Zionist Conference on Campus
New York University (NYU) School of Law has told the Journal that they will not be hosting the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism’s (ICSZ) upcoming conference on campus.
The ICSZ’s website had stated their conference, “Battling the ‘IHRA definition’: Theory & Activism” is being held at UC Santa Cruz on October 13 and NYU Law on October 14. However, a spokesperson for NYU Law told the Journal on August 31, “We will not and have never committed to hosting this event.” As of publication time, the ICSZ’s website states that the conference is being held at NYU, not NYU Law. But a spokesperson for NYU told the Journal on September 1 that “we are unaware of any space request related to this event other than the one submitted to the Law School by a student group… the student group had, in fact, never received confirmation for the space they sought, and have been told that space is not available.”
The ICSZ did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
Dispute Over Whether CUNY Graduate Center President Stepping Down is Due to Marc Lamont Hill Hire
The City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center president will be stepping down from her position by the end of September, and there is a dispute playing out on social media on whether or not it’s related to the hiring of Marc Lamont Hill as a presidential professor at the Graduate Center.
CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez said in a statement on August 28 that they will be appointing an interim president to replace outgoing CUNY Graduate Center President Robin L. Garrell and will eventually name a permanent successor. “We congratulate President Garrell on her accomplishments, thank her for her service to the Graduate Center and CUNY, and wish her well in her future endeavors,” Matos Rodriguez said. No reason was given for Garrell’s departure.
New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (R) celebrated Garrell’s resignation as a victory. “That @marclamonthill was even considered as a professor at CUNY is reprehensible,” she posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Together with [Former Assemblyman] @HikindDov we fought for swift action to be taken. While I am grateful the CUNY Chancellor @ChancellorCUNY acted and made sure the President who made this awful decision RESIGNS, it’s not enough and we aren’t satisfied. Every day that Marc Lamont Hill keeps his job at CUNY is a stain on this institution. He must be next.” However, Students and Faculty for Equality (SAFE) CUNY claimed in a post on X that “Garrell resigned because of a 700 campus member no confidence vote against her. It had NOTHING to do with Lamont Hill. It had nothing to do with Vernikov. Garrell’s resignation was in the works well before Hill was even hired.” Back in January, more than 700 faculty, staff and graduate workers signed a letter of no confidence in Garrell, Provost Steve Everett and Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Brian Peterson.
CUNY and Hill did not respond to the Journal’s requests for comment.
Antisemitic Graffiti at Sacramento School
A series of antisemitic and racist messages were found on the walls of a school in the Sacramento area on August 27.
CBS News reported that the principal of Gold River Discovery Center, a campus for kindergarten through 8th grade students, said in a message to parents: “On Sunday, we discovered graffiti in several areas of our campus that included racist and antisemitic language and symbols. We are working with the district’s Safe Schools team to investigate and this incident has been reported to law enforcement.”
