Jewish Students on Campus “Fearful” After BDS Passes, Swastika Found

A swastika was found at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (U-M) on Wednesday afternoon, hours after the school’s student government called on university leaders to divest from companies that do business with Israel.

The swastika — found in a men’s bathroom stall — was discovered by Sammy Lawrence, a Jewish senior at U-M who reported the antisemitic mark to the Division of Public Safety and Security, The Michigan Daily reported. A follow Jewish senior, Ryan Scheidt, also saw the swastika.

The university was contacted about the incident shortly before 3 p.m. — some twelve hours after the Central Student Government (CSG) voted to endorse a divestment resolution that accused Israel of practicing apartheid against Palestinians.

A spokesperson for the school to The Algemeiner that they “do not have any suspects in the incident nor do we know an approximate time during which it occurred.”

Scheidt — one of the students who saw the swastika — spoke to the Daily about a possible connection between the appearance of the mark and the CSG vote.

“I think if it did happen after this morning’s vote, I think that’s possible,” Scheidt told the paper. “I was fearful last night of the passing of the vote.”

According to the Daily, “Scheidt said he had felt he had a safe space on campus as a Jewish student until now, and he worried the #UMDivest vote would cause more anti-Semitic acts on campus like in the past.”

“I was fearful,” Scheidt added, “and if it was drawn this morning after the vote, I hope it has nothing to do with divestment, but it would scare me if it did.”

A study conducted by the monitoring group AMCHA Initiative in 2016 found that divestment resolutions are linked to an increase in antisemitic activity on campus.

Read More: Algemeiner