Swastika T-Shirt Vendor Kicked Off USC Campus

Swastika T-shirts on sale at USC campus Image by screenshot/NBC

By Nathan Guttman February 17, 2017

A Nazi symbol or a piece of art?

A vendor at the University of Southern California tried to explain that T-shirts featuring swastikas he was selling on campus were no more than an artistic expression.

But according to a report on the local NBC news, the campus rabbi did not share the artistic value of the Nazi-symbol T-shirt and alerted campus authorities, who asked the vendor to leave.

Rabbi Dov Wagner explained on Facebook that “art should not be a cover for hate.”

In a statement, the USC press office said that the T-shirt stand was removed because it created disruption on campus. “The merchandise the vendor was selling did not meet community standards, per USC guidelines for vendors who wish to sell goods and services on campus.”

Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected]

Nathan Guttman, staff writer, was the Forward’s Washington bureau chief. He joined the staff in 2006 after serving for five years as Washington correspondent for the Israeli dailies Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post. In Israel, he was the features editor for Ha’aretz and chief editor of Channel 1 TV evening news. He was born in Canada and grew up in Israel. He is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO