On March 25th, Brooklyn College students were horrified to find hateful anti-Semitic comments scrawled on the wall of a men’s bathroom stall in the Brooklyn College Library. The message, which icily read, “Jews - root of all evil,” comes at a time when a significant rise in the frequency of anti-Semitic activities is being witnessed on college campuses across the country. Indeed, only several weeks ago, anti-Semites at the University of California, Davis surreptitiously spray-painted swastikas on walls of the Jewish fraternity house, AEπ.

The Davis swastikas are not an isolated incident in which the Nazi symbol was employed to marginalize Jewish students on campus. In October, swastikas marred the walls of the AEπ Jewish fraternity house at Emory University. Swastikas were also drawn on the Jewish fraternity’s bulletin boards at the George Washington University in March.

Lay-leaders within the Jewish community of students at Brooklyn College intend to meet on Friday, March 27 to discuss the events that have left the community feeling threatened and unsafe.