San Jose State University is investigating a possible hate crime that has sparked a big student reaction.
Word of a possible hate crime has spread across the San Jose State University campus quickly.
Investigators say on Saturday, a Sikh student was attacked by a group of non-students.
President of the school’s Sikh Collegiate Federation Hasmeet Kaur says she saw a video of the attack, taken by another student, and points out the attackers even misidentified the victim.
“He was assaulted by five individuals who were calling him a Hindu and they physically assaulted him. They put him to the ground, and they took his turban off,” Kaur said.
The Sikh student group says, in the wake of the attack, there are changes that need to be made now.
“Everybody needs to know what happened, and it cannot happen again. We will have a list of demands and a list of things moving forward, culture sensitivity training, maybe ‘Sikh Awareness’ that needs to happen not just on our campus, but campuses all over the state,” Kaur said.
Because the attackers seemed to believe the victim was actually Hindu, the leader of the San Jose Hindu temple said they have alerted their own community about the incident as well.
San Jose State issued a statement, confirming the attack and saying “Hate crimes are evil acts that harm entire communities and have no place in our community.”
“I was definitely shocked. I was in disbelief when I seen it. A hate crime happened on our campus. At San Jose State, where we are so diversified,” Kaur said. “This is not something I would imagine that could ever happen.”
The video she referenced has not been made public yet. The town hall meeting will be held Thursday, and the group plans to compile its demands for change to present to the university.