Syracuse students charged with hate crime after pork thrown into Jewish frat on Rosh Hashanah

Syracuse University has an undergraduate Jewish population of about 2,500, comprising around 16% of its student body, according to Hillel International.

By Grace Gilson, JTA

Two Syracuse University students face hate crime charges for allegedly throwing pork into a Jewish fraternity house on Rosh Hashanah.

At around 6 p.m. Tuesday, members of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity were gathered for Rosh Hashanah when one student, who was not affiliated with the fraternity, allegedly entered the house and threw a bag of pork at an interior wall, according to university police.

The student, identified as Samuel Patten, 18, of Brooklyn, then fled the home in a vehicle driven by another student, Kyle Anderson, 18, of Greenwich, Connecticut.

They were later captured by police and charged with burglary as a hate crime and criminal nuisance.

“Tonight’s incident as reported to us is abhorrent, shocking to the conscience and violates our core value of being a place that is truly welcoming to all. It will not be tolerated at Syracuse University,” wrote Allen Groves, the university’s chief student experience officer, in a statement.

Groves added that the two students had been referred to the university’s Office of Community Standards for potential disciplinary action.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick told the Associated Press that the hate crime charges for the students came about because the incident occurred on a Jewish holiday at a historically Jewish fraternity.

“This incident is not a foolish college prank and will not be treated as such,” Fitzpatrick told the Associated Press.

”It will be treated for what it is, a crime directed against a group of Jewish students enjoying a celebratory dinner and seemingly secure in their residence.”

Syracuse University has an undergraduate Jewish population of about 2,500, comprising around 16% of its student body, according to Hillel International.

In 2019, a Jewish professor received an anonymous, antisemitic email and all fraternity activities were cancelled the same year following a spate of racist incidents.

“We are heartbroken and outraged by this hateful crime committed against our fraternity,” the fraternity wrote in a story post on Instagram. “This was an attack on our home, our values, and our safety, as well as every Jewish student on campus.”

Bacon and other pig products, which are not kosher to eat under Jewish law, have been used in antisemitic assaults before and have historically shown up in antisemitic imagery.

In January 2020, an upstate New York woman was charged with a hate crime after allegedly throwing pork at a local synagogue in the middle of the night.

And earlier this year, an Australian man was arrested after allegedly throwing a “packet of bacon” at someone who interrupted his attempts at antisemitic graffiti.