A swastika Image by Wikimedia Commons

By Aiden Pink December 10, 2018

Nazi-themed posters were found on campus at Purchase College in New York on Sunday, the last night of Hanukkah.

The posters had images of Adolf Hitler and a swastika, a university spokeswoman told the Rockland/Westchester Journal News on Monday.

The university police has identified a suspect, the school’s officer in charge and vice president for student affairs, Dennis Craig, wrote in an email to the university community on Monday.

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“Messages of hate, while becoming more and more prevalent in our country, have no place on our campus and will be treated with the utmost severity,” he wrote.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state police’s hate crimes unit is also investigating.

“Those behind this noxious act should know that these fliers, far from inciting fear, will only harden our resolve to combat hate in all its forms,” he said. “We will not cower in the face of hate. While they spread fear, we will spread love.”

“I just don’t understand the mentality of anyone that would go out of their way to create and post” the posters, student Michelle Cavalieri told the Journal News.

There are around 420 Jewish undergraduate students at Purchase, approximately 10% of the total population, according to the Hillel College Guide.

Contact Aiden Pink at pink@forward.com or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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