ITHACA, N.Y. (AP/1010 WINS) -- Threatening statements about Jews on an internet discussion board has unnerved students at Cornell University and across New York State and prompted school administrators to send campus police to guard a Jewish center and kosher dining hall.
The menacing, anonymous messages, posted over the weekend in an online forum about fraternities and sororities, came amid a torrent of antisemitic and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has flowed on social media during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Gov. Kathy Hochul pledged during a visit to Cornell’s Center for Jewish Living on Monday that state police would work to identify anyone making online threats and hold them accountable.
“No one should be afraid to walk from their dorm or their dining hall to a classroom,” she said. “When speech crosses over into hate speech and into hate crimes, that’s when we have to make sure that students know that we’ll step up and protect them.”
The Cornell University Police Department is investigating and has notified the FBI of a potential hate crime.
The now-deleted threats, posted on Saturday and Sunday, didn't close the dining hall, and school officials didn't initiate any lockdown procedures, but Cornell Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, advised students and staff to avoid the building “in an abundance of caution.”
Demonstrations both in support of Israel and in support of Palestinians have roiled U.S. campuses since the war began, and both Jewish and Muslim students have complained of feeling isolated and unsupported by their universities.
The fear of violence at Cornell was stoked by comments left on a Greek life website that is not affiliated with the school in Ithaca, about 227 miles northwest of New York City. But even if the threats themselves were empty, they still had the power to frighten.
“Threats of violence are absolutely intolerable, and we will work to ensure that the person or people who posted them are punished to the full extent of the law,” Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said in a statement. “The virulence and destructiveness of antisemitism is real and deeply impacting our Jewish students, faculty and staff, as well as the entire Cornell community."
Meanwhile, students at Columbia University in Morningside Heights held a press conference on Monday afternoon to call on administrators to address what they say is as a dangerous rise in antisemitic rhetoric on campus that has them feeling targeted and unsafe.
Columbia has sent three emails to students regarding safety and security, but Jewish students like Noa Fay say administrators have done little to address the hatred.
The students say they've encountered antisemitic threats and vocal support for Hamas, which murdered over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in an Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.
An Israeli student was also beaten with a stick outside Columbia's main library earlier this month. And a swastika was scrawled on the wall of the university's International Affairs Building, where Fay attends classes.
"We have students denying the Holocaust, the importance of the Holocaust, saying that all Israelis and Jewish people are white supremacists," Fay said.
The students want university leadership to publicly condemn Hamas, to enact policies for all forms of identity-based bigotry like antisemitism, and to clarify what is considered free speech or hate speech.
In a response, the university wrote: "As President [Minouche] Shafik and the administration have consistently made clear, antisemitism or any other form of hate are antithetical to Columbia's values and can lead to acts of harassment or violence."
"When this type of speech is unlawful or violates University rules, it will not be tolerated," the statement continued. "We are using every available tool to keep our community safe and that includes protecting our Jewish students from antisemitic discrimination or harassment. We encourage our community to visit our campus resources page for information on the many forms of support the University is providing during this time of crisis."
President Joe Biden's administration on Monday condemned what it says is an alarming increase in antisemitic incidents at U.S. schools and colleges. A statement from the White House says the departments of Justice and Homeland Security have been hosting calls with campus law enforcement officials to offer support and address threats.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Domestic Policy Adviser Neera Tanden plan to visit a university campus this week to hold a roundtable discussion with Jewish students, the White House said. Education Department officials have been visiting campuses across the country to address antisemitism in recent weeks, with more planned this week in New York City and Baltimore.
The agency is also updating a process to report federal discrimination complaints, making it clear that antisemitism and Islamophobia are prohibited by the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Reports of hate crimes against both Jews and Muslims have increased amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. A 6-year-old Muslim boy was fatally stabbed and his mother was wounded in Illinois earlier this month, and the suspect was charged with a hate crime after police said he singled out the victims because of their faith.