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April 12, 2002/Nisan 30, 5762, Vol. 54, No. 30
Berkeley Hillel vandalism troubles Jews on campus
ALEXANDRA J. WALL
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California
SAN FRANCISCO - On March 31, Rona Teitelman arrived at Berkeley Hillel to find an anti-Semitic obscenity scrawled on the dumpster and the front glass door had been shattered by a brick.
The executive administrator of Hillel called the police and found that the broken door had already been reported by a passerby the night of March 27, the first night of Passover.
Few students were around, both because of the holiday and spring break.
While investigative steps were taken after the broken door and the graffiti were discovered, there are no suspects, and so the investigation is suspended, said Lt. Cynthia Harris of the Berkeley Police Department. "If we develop some leads, we will reopen the case," said Harris.
Although there is no proof that the incident is connected to the recent upsurge in violence in the Middle East, those familiar with the atmosphere on the U.C. Berkeley campus suspect that it most definitely is.
Adam Weisberg, executive director of Berkeley Hillel, said that "given the history of events at Berkeley Hillel over the past year and half, I have no doubt whatsoever that this is related to what's going on in the Middle East and people's hateful and violent responses to it."
The campus director of the San Francisco-based Israel Center agreed. "One doesn't have to be a rocket scientist to see the connection," said Avner Even-Zohar.
Weisberg noted that for the students, an attack on Hillel was different from those on other Jewish institutions.
"Students think of it not only as a place to go for programs but as a home for them, so it feels very personal," he said.
"The rest of campus doesn't always feel so safe for Jewish students, so this was really a violation of a space that is safe," said Jessica Oleon, president of the Jewish Students Union.
Oleon was one of about 30 students who attended a meeting on April 9 to process the attack and talk about preventive measures that could be taken in the future.
The atmosphere at Berkeley has gotten so difficult, she said, that even those Jewish students with little or no connection to Israel feel under attack.
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