Anti-Semitic fliers found in UIC campus buildings

Dozens of anti-Semitic fliers were found in several buildings on the University of Illinois at Chicago campus Tuesday.

The fliers accused Jews of controlling a disproportionate amount of the wealth in the United States, stating “Ending white privilege starts with ending Jewish privilege.”

The fliers were found in the Richard J. Daley Library and in the campus student centers, according to Eva Zeltser, a communications student and president of Rohr Chabad, a Jewish student organization at UIC.

Zeltser said there were dozens of fliers in the multistory library.

“They were found by a handful on each floor, I can only estimate [there were] more than 100,” she said.

Zeltser and some peers collected the fliers they could and brought them to the attention of the university’s administration. She also took a photo of a flier and posted it to Facebook, where it was shared more than 2,000 times as of Thursday.

In a statement released Tuesday, UIC said such actions “will not be tolerated on our campus.”

“Such actions do not reflect the values we hold as a community,” the statement said. “As we investigate this recent event, we strongly encourage all members of our university to exercise their right to free speech in a manner that recognizes these principles and avoids prejudice or stereotypes.”

Zeltser said she saw no one passing out the fliers, though it was not the first time Jewish students had been harassed on campus.

A window was smashed and swastika stickers were placed on the door of a downtown synagogue in January. Bomb threats were called into the Jewish Community Center in Hyde Park in February and the Jewish Day School in Edgewater in early March.

Rabbi Bentzy Shemtov, also of Rohr Chabad, said a meeting with university officials, campus police representatives and Jewish students was held Wednesday to address concerns.

“Although people are shaken, I feel that the students are grateful for the quick response from the university to investigate and get to the bottom of this,” Shemtov said.

Rabbi Seth Winberg, of Metro Chicago Hillel, located on UIC’s campus, echoed Shemtov’s sentiments that the university was taking a proactive approach.

“We appreciate that Chancellor [Michael] Amiridis immediately and unequivocally called the fliers anti-Semitic,” Winberg said in an email Thursday. “Based on the dramatic rise of anti-Semitism on college campuses, this could have happened anywhere and universities need to have zero tolerance for anti-Semitism.”