Antisemitic Vandalism in Graduate Residence (09/27/2022)
What Happened
During the early morning to late afternoon on Tuesday, September 27, a mezuzah was torn off a door frame of the dorm room door of two Jewish graduate students in a residence hall. It is significant that this incident occurred on the last day of Rosh Hashanah. Targeting of mezuzahs is a form of intimidation and bigotry to the Jewish community.
At this time the offending party(ies) is/are unknown.
What is Being Done
Updated as of 11/29/2022 at 9:00 am
The DPS investigation has not identified an alleged perpetrator. This incident will be counted as a hate crime in the annual Clery Act statistics.
Updated as of 09/30/2022 at 12:00 pm.
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) has been notified and an investigation has begun as this incident likely meets the legal definition of vandalism or theft. It could meet the legal definition of hate crime. The Clery Act and the CA Education Code 67380 also requires the University to record the number of hate incidents occurring on campus. This event meets the Cleary definition for hate incidents, and will be recorded accordingly.
A Protected Identity Harm report was filed by both roommates, and then Student Affairs and University staff and reached out to them to provide support.
There will be a community gathering space to talk at 5:30 pm Friday (before Shabbat) at the Taube Hillel House.
What to Do
- If you have any information that may assist this incident, call DPS at 650.329.2413 (24/7) and ask to speak to an investigator.
- Rabbi Hahn Tapper and other staff from Office of Religious and Spiritual Life (ORSL) as well as Rabbi Kirschner from Hillel are always available to talk individually to students seeking support.
- Students needing assistance are invited to reach out to these mental health resources and faculty/staff can reach out to the Faculty Staff Help Center.
- Self-care equals community care. If you want to learn more about antisemitism and how you can address it, visit the Stanford Against Hate website.
- If you experience bias or discrimination, please file a Protected Identity Harm report.
