Emerson to investigate alleged antisemitic behavior in classroom
Classroom 633 of the Walker Building.
December 21, 2021
Emerson is investigating a report of antisemitic behavior in a classroom that originated in social media, college officials said Tuesday evening.
The college was made aware of the alleged incident on Dec.17 through a social media post, Interim President Bill Gilligan wrote in a community-wide email. Gilligan wrote that the college remains opposed to any antisemitic behavior on campus, stating that “any behavior that is insensitive to, or belittles, the trauma experienced by Jewish individuals and others during the Holocaust is unacceptable.”
According to an account posted to the Jewish On Campus Instagram page on Dec. 16, an unidentified Emerson professor allegedly asked a student to say something German, which the student refused, before allegedly speaking in German and making a “Hitler salute” towards the student and other Jewish members of the class. The post added that the alleged incident wasn’t “the first time [the professor] had done or said something ignorant in class.”
Emerson’s announcement comes two months after a poster advertising an event organized by Hillel, Emerson’s organization for Jewish students, was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. In 2020, a similar incident also occurred when four swastikas were found etched into a stairwell of the Piano Row residence hall. No disciplinary action has been made public for either incident.
Diane Pansen / Jan 21, 2022 at 6:20 pm
As this issue is being investigated, it’s crucial the Beacon continues the balanced coverage from your first article in which you also reported ” another Jewish first-year visual and media arts major in McNeil’s class, said although the event indeed took place, it was taken out of context.”
“What really unnerved me about the situation was the way it was contextualized online,” X said. “It was contextualized in a very different way—one that seems largely discriminatory online, when it was surrounded by a hefty amount of very anti-fascist, anti-Hitler context. He was talking about a photographer who was sort of persecuted by the Nazis.” Please continue to honor the word “alleged” in your reporting as the case is being investigated. Thank you.
Former Emersonian / Dec 22, 2021 at 10:40 am
“Unidentified” until you read the comments on the IG post, where he’s absolutely identified.