When noose was found on the door of a black professor, there was national outrage and campus protests. Will we get the same level of outrage in this case, over an incident in the same building? Or will Columbia University prove that it is the hotbed of anti-Semitism that it has been accused of being in recent years?

A swastika was found spray-painted on a Jewish professorÂ’s office door yesterday morning at Teachers College at Columbia University, the second time in less than a month that one of the collegeÂ’s professors has been the target of bias.

The professor, Elizabeth Midlarsky, a clinical psychologist who has done studies on the Holocaust, said the collegeÂ’s associate provost called to notify her of the swastika. Ms. Midlarsky said it was actually the third time in recent weeks that she had been the target of bias.

On Oct. 17, she said, she found an anti-Semitic flier in her mailbox at work. She said she found two more copies of the same flier in her mailbox on Oct. 24. She said she reported those incidents to Columbia officials.

“I see this as an attack of extreme hate and extreme cowardice by someone trying to make a point,” Dr. Midlarsky said yesterday. The police said they had no suspects.

The school employs scholars who deny the legitimacy of Israel -- including one that denies Jews ever occupied the area that is today Israel. Students have been harassed and belittled by professors because of their Jewish faith and Israeli citizenship. Will this act of anti-Semitism be treated as seriously as the incident of racism a couple of weeks back? Or are some groups more equal than others at Columbia?

Posted by: Greg at 10:33 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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