Delaware Valley College is investigating a report of an anti-Semitic tweet posted by one of its students.
A college founded in the 19th century by a rabbi is at the center of yet another example of people’s use of social media to espouse anti-Semitic views and beliefs.
Delaware Valley College in Doylestown, Pa., which began life as National Farm School in 1896 as the brainchild of Rabbi Joseph Krauskopf, a Russian immigrant who became the leader of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, is investigating one of its female student athletes for posting an anti-Semitic tweet.
Though the tweet, which reads, “Can I kill all the [expletive deleted] Jews in Lakewood pleeeasse?!?!!” was originally posted in Dec. 2013, other Twitter users only brought it to the attention of school officials on March 23, according to Laurie Ward, the college’s chief marketing and communications officer.
According to a report on NBC-10, the student is a resident of Lakewood, N.J., which has a substantial Orthodox Jewish population. In accordance with college policy, the student has not been identified during the investigative process.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for bias-related speech on our campus,” said Ward, adding that the college was launching an internal investigation of the offensive tweet per the school’s student conduct policy. “We are deeply saddened by this incident. While it is the example of one individual’s poor choice, it does not reflect the sentiments of the greater student body at Del Val.”
The local office of the Anti-Defamation League said they had noted an uptick compared to years past in complaints by students of anti-Semitic social media posts at local high schools and colleges.
ADL regional director Nancy Baron-Baer condemned the tweet, saying, "Clearly, for someone to tweet something like that in today's day and age is a very sad reminder to all of us that anti-Semitism is in the forefront today."
Ward said that the school was working with members of the local Jewish community and the campus Hillel to create educational programming about anti-Semitism for later in the semester.
“I haven’t heard any chatter on Twitter” by students regarding the incident, added Ward. “I know that the few students I’ve spoken to were shocked by the level of hostility in the tweet.”
This is a developing story.
