- Fordham Prep, a Jesuit Catholic school in the Bronx, wrote to parents to let them know that students had been caught spraying anti-Semitic graffiti
- The students painted anti-Semitic symbols and slogans on October 9, two days after the Hamas terrorist attack, said the school’s principal and president
- The students have been suspended and the school says they may involve the police
Students at a Catholic prep school in New York City have been suspended and may face a hate crime investigation after they were caught drawing anti-Semitic graffiti.
Parents at Fordham Prep, a $24,000-a-year Jesuit school for boys in the Bronx, were notified of the suspensions.
The students were seen spraying graffiti outside of campus on Oct. 9, school president Anthony Day and school president Joseph Petriello said in their letter to parents.
The students’ names were not released and it was unclear how many were involved.
On October 9, a group of four young men were seen daubing swastikas on a building in Upper Manhattan. It is unknown if these are Fordham Prep students.
Fordham Prep currently has 950 students in grades nine through 12.
Fordham Preparatory School, whose fees are nearly $24,000 a year, has suspended students for anti-Semitic graffiti
The school administration described the boys’ actions as “regrettable.”
The graffiti was sprayed two days after the Hamas terror attack that killed 1,200 Israelis and sparked a wave of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York City rose 330 percent in the three weeks after the terrorist attack.
According to a review of NYPD data by California State University, San Bernardino, 16 cases were reported in September and 69 in October.
Day and Petriello said the school “unequivocally condemns offensive and hateful language and actions in all its forms.”
“Anti-Semitic language and actions contradict our Catholic Jesuit values,” they added.
“Hate speech has no place in our community.”
They said the entire student body was informed of the situation in a series of assemblies for each grade level.