“Not all anti-Israel statements are antisemitic, but there was something about this one that was a little bit disturbing,” an alum from the Class of 1986 said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News.
The alum, who requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons, was referring to chalkboard messaging and an antisemitic flier they found while visiting campus with a friend on Oct. 26, 2023.
On the evening of March 7, students convened in Blanchard Hall’s Great Room to watch, learn from and discuss the Anti-Defamation League’s Never Is Now 2021 panel titled “Confronting Anti-Black Racism to Fight Antisemitism.” The discussion was led by Associate Dean of Students for Community and Inclusion Latrina Denson and Chaplain to the College and Advisor to the Jewish Community Amelia Ender. After a land acknowledgment by MoZone Peer Advisor Emi Wilson ’23, the second event in this series centering anti-Black racism in solidarity with religious communities began.
On Feb. 10, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Kijua Sanders-McMurtry sent an email out to the Mount Holyoke community discussing the College’s efforts to educate the community on antisemitism. The letter focused on the progress made so far as well as steps forward in preventing it on campus.
“I blink, and I still see my reflection in the mirror with a [Nazi] swastika on it,” a Jewish resident of 1837 Hall said. On Oct. 6, the student came face to face with the hate symbol while on a routine trip to the single stall bathroom on the third floor of 1837. The room, as they described it, was a pleasant “safe haven.” But while washing their hands, they looked up to see a “line” drawn on the mirror. At first, they were confused.
A Nazi swastika was found drawn across the bathroom mirror in the third floor single stall bathroom in 1837 Hall on Oct. 6, just after 6:30 p.m., according to a letter to the community from the Jewish Student Union board. Shortly after it was found, the symbol was removed by Public Safety and Services.
BY EMMA RUBIN ’20
On Nov. 13, in the John Quincy Adams Residence Hall at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass), a student’s door was defaced with homophobic and transphobic slurs as well as a swastika. The University of Massachusetts, Amherst Police Department (UMPD) investigated the event and the school sent out an email denouncing the act.
