(Jewish Group) What it's really like to be Jewish on a campus 'hotspot' of antisemitism
The first reports from George Washington University last October were alarming: Someone had broken into a fraternity house and desecrated a Torah — tearing the scroll and dousing it with laundry detergent. The story spread like wildfire online; hundreds joined a campus vigil against antisemitism.
“The status quo, where Jewish students at this campus are fearing for their lives, has existed for far too long,” declared the fraternity president, Chris Osborne, choking up as he spoke.
Many Jewish students found the assertion exaggerated. The incident was upsetting, but hardly life-threatening: The “Torah” in question turned out to be a small replica, the kind you can buy for $20 at a synagogue gift shop.
And whoever entered the house the night before Halloween damaged the Torah while throwing hot sauce all over the kitchen, ripping out smoke detectors and toppling appliances; Tau Kappa Epsilon is not a Jewish fraternity and the motive of the crime was unclear.
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