Attack on Jewish student at University of Michigan investigated as hate crime

Police are investigating an attack on a Jewish student at the University of Michigan as a hate crime after he was beaten up by assailants who first asked if he was Jewish.

The Ann Arbor Police Department said its hate crimes detective is investigating a "bias-motivated assault" that occurred about 12:45 a.m. on Sunday.

"The 19-year-old male victim reported he was walking when a group of males behind him asked if he was Jewish," said the department in a press release. "When the victim said yes, the group of males proceeded to assault him. The suspects fled on foot."

University of Michigan President Santa Ono on Monday condemned "this act of violence and all antisemitic attacks," while the Anti-Defamation League offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the assailants.

The Combat Antisemitism Movement called the attack "yet another example of the persistent threats and intimidation Jewish students continue to face on campuses following October 7," the date of the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians and others.

"We call on university administrations to do more to protect Jewish students and send a clear message that there is no tolerance for on-campus hate," said the movement.

The assault on the student, who sustained minor injuries and was not hospitalized, came with the university already on the federal radar after the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights found that school officials failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.

The federal investigation, released in June, concluded that the university failed to address the "hostile environment" for Jewish students, faculty and staff fueled by anti-Israel protests during the 2022-23 academic year.

The university agreed to revise its anti-discrimination policies as needed and review the case files of previously reported antisemitism incidents. The university will also report its responses to discrimination allegations to the department during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 academic years.

Anti-Israel activists are already on the move on campus. Police arrested four protesters at a mass pro-Gaza "die-in" for disrupting another university event and refusing to disperse. The four arrested were not students, according to the Michigan Daily.

In May, campus police removed a sprawling pro-Gaza encampment after protesters refused multiple requests to dismantle the camp, spurring a melee that saw officers deploy "a mild form of pepper spray" after activists began "throwing objects including furniture and metal projectiles at the officers."

About 6,500 Jewish students, both graduate and undergraduate, are enrolled at the University of Michigan, according to the university's Hillel chapter, making up about 13% of the student body of 51,225.

The University of Michigan had the fifth-most hate crimes of any U.S. college in 2022, before the Oct. 7 attack, according to an analysis by the David A. Breston law firm and 1Point21 Interactive using data reported under the Clery Act, a 1990 law requiring universities to track and disclose campus crime.