By Katie Meyer
Several members of Fordham’s faculty arrived at their desks early Friday morning to find that an anonymous source had faxed them anti-Semitic messages.
Fordham’s Office of the President sent out an email later in the day, addressing the message to all Fordham students, staff, faculty and guests. It said that multiple faxes were sent, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday .
Describing the message as “virulently anti-Semitic,” the email said that the Department of Public Safety had brought the matter to the NYPD, but it had been ruled “political speech and not a crime.” It also stated that Public Safety planned to continue investigating the source of the fax, and had “tentatively established that they are coming from a source outside the university.”
Mark Naison, a professor in the African American Studies department, said he only saw it briefly this morning, but remembered that it included “something about a Hasidic group in Europe murdering Christian boys and severing their private parts.”
“It was vulgar, odd and ridiculous,” Naison said in an email. “I thought the person who sent it was quite deranged.”
“Frankly, I have never seen anything like this before,” Naison said, calling the messages “very strange” and “unconnected to anything real.”
Amir Idris, chair of the department of African and African American Studies, did not see the fax, but was informed about it by faculty members.
“Of course, our department strongly condemns such vicious attacks on specific group[s],” Idris stated in an email. “I believe that the language of hate and fear is an enemy to our humanity’s highest ideals. The language of inclusion and tolerance instead advances our collective efforts toward cultivating a better society.”
The Office of the President described the fax as “the antithesis of what a Jesuit university represents,” stating that it unequivocally condemns the kind of language used.
“Fordham stands with the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Jewish faith, with the Jewish people, and with people of good will everywhere, in utterly rejecting this vicious and degrading attack,” the email read.
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Katie Meyer is the News Editor for The Fordham Ram.
