Judaic Studies billboard vandalized with swastikas

Portland State professor Michael Weingrad discovered swastikas drawn across the bulletin board of the Judaic Studies department early Monday morning and reported the incident to PSU public Safety.

The act is a “biased crime,” according to Campus Public Safety Office Chief Mike Soto, who said he has not yet reviewed the incident report and did not know of any current suspects. Soto said if a suspect is obtained, they would be charged with a criminal act.

The swastika drawings are the second incident to affect the Judaic Studies department within the last two weeks. Weingrad, the first full-time professor of Judaic Studies, said that nearly a week and a half ago, all the informational postings on the bulletin board were ripped down.

At the time, Weingrad disregarded the incident.

“At that point, we didn’t want to assume anything,” he said. Weingrad said he called the university to inquire whether the Judaic Studies bulletin board was on the schedule to be cleaned and learned that it was not.

After finding the swastikas yesterday morning, Weingrad realized the two incidents could have been connected and wanted to deal with the situation.

“I wanted to act quickly and move on,” he said. “You just don’t know if this is somehow connected to other grievances.”

The drawings were found on three posters advertising events in the Judaic Studies department. Swastikas were drawn on the forehead of a poster of Anita Norich, a University of Michigan professor speaking at PSU on Wednesday, and on the forehead of Al Pacino on a poster for the film The Merchant of Venice.

A nearly illegible Star of David and other swastikas were drawn on a second Norich poster near the other two posters.

Weingrad said only minimal anti-Semitic acts of vandalism have occurred before, such as similar small drawings. He said there have never been repeated incidents of anti-Semitism.

Co-President of the Jewish Student Union Kayla Goldfarb said that she is surprised that this could happen at a university. She said that she personally has never experienced any anti-Semitism, but now feels afraid of what people who are anti-Semitic might do to Jewish students, especially those in positions of leadership.

“I think it makes (the university) look really bad,” she said. “We already have a low rate of involvement, now people go ahead and make (Jewish students) feel more like outsiders. It doesn’t look very good if we’re trying to promote events.”

Weingrad said student safety is the primary concern, but he has not seen anything beyond this event on campus that has worried him. He said that even though he does not think this occurrence should be blown out of proportion, the bulletin board is the main source of access to events for students.

“We want to be able to put the posters up and not have them defaced,” he said.

No students have yet complained, Weingrad said, and he planned on having new sheets printed out to repost to the bulletin board yesterday. Soto also said Public Safety would remove the defamatory drawings, but the posters remained at press time.

The Harold A. Schnitzer family helped established the Judaic Studies department at Portland State after donating a million dollars. After coming to PSU in January of last year, Weingrad became the first full-time professor in the program.

He said interest and enrollment in Judaic Studies has been growing over the last few years and that students from all different backgrounds have been part of the growing enrollment. A minor in Judaic Studies will be starting in the coming school year, according to Weingrad.

Soto said more information regarding the vandalism will develop in the next few days, as he is able to look further into the case. He said that if the person who committed the crime is a student, they will face consequences from the school along with the legal consequences.