{"id":234443,"date":"2026-03-24T18:08:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234443\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T18:08:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T18:08:07","slug":"lawmaker-questions-sjsus-handling-of-antisemitic-incidents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234443\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmaker questions SJSU\u2019s handling of antisemitic incidents"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 A Republican lawmaker has called into question San Jose State University\u2019s handling of antisemitic incidents earlier this month and last fall at the campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In a letter<\/a> last week, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, D-La., asked SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson to answer nearly two dozen pointed questions related to the incidents, including what actions the university has taken in response, whether it has identified the people responsible, and what disciplinary or criminal recourse it is pursuing.<\/p>\n

Cassidy \u2013 the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee \u2013 said he also wants to know how the university has responded to fears and concerns Jewish students and employees have expressed over their safety and well-being.<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Jose State University officials\u2019 response to growing antisemitism on the campus premises is inadequate and demands accountability,\u201d Cassidy wrote in the letter. Teniente-Matson has until April 2 to respond to the questions posed in the letter.<\/p>\n

According to the letter, antisemitic threats were found scrawled on walls earlier this month. One stated \u201ckill all Jews,\u201d while another stated \u201cSJSU, sorry, but for Allah 3\/11 will be 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a campus-wide message Friday, the university said the graffiti was removed and no evidence was identified to indicate a credible threat, Cassidy wrote in the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this has done little to allay fears among Jewish students,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n

Several of Cassidy\u2019s questions revolved around the university\u2019s response to the incident, which was to hold a counseling session. Jewish students did not attend because they \u201cfeared for their physical safety and did not want to gather in large numbers to become easy targets in the face of a very real threat,\u201d according to the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the circumstances, why was a counseling session recommended as the best course of action?\u201d, Cassidy asked in one question.<\/p>\n

The letter highlighted another antisemitic incident last fall, when swastikas and threats of a mass shooting targeting Jewish and other minority students were found etched on a bathroom stall. The threats, like the others, were not credible, but Cassidy said \u201cit did not alleviate growing fear and concern among students and faculty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university, the senator continued, apparently did not issue official statements condemning the incidents this month or last fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cAntisemitic threats are vile and have absolutely no place in our educational institutions or on college campuses,\u201d Cassidy said. \u201cIt is imperative that university administrators rise to the occasion to take a firm stand against antisemitism and racial violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Jose State officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Check back for updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 A Republican lawmaker has called into question San Jose State University\u2019s handling of antisemitic incidents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[50500,184,106151,15,100,88,90,89,6345,198,200],"class_list":["post-234443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-anti-semitism","tag-bay-area","tag-bill-cassidy","tag-education","tag-news","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-state-university","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}