ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Students, faculty and staff at the University of Rochester started this week off by seeing "wanted" posters almost everywhere they looked. The posters, the university said, targeted specific people who are members of the Jewish community, leading some to call the incident a hate crime.

“Honestly, as an Israeli and Jewish student on campus, I felt extremely concerned," said Israeli University of Rochester student Gilad Katz. "I’m like, it feels like almost this is a call to violence. It creates a sense of anxiety in a very hostile environment on campus. It's supposed to be everyone's home. And when one group of people starts to be very negative or violent with another group, it's hard to make this place feel like home.”

What You Need To Know

  • The University of Rochester is denouncing hundreds of antisemitic posters hung across campus it says targeted Jewish faculty at the school

  • Some Jewish students on campus say they fear for their safety

  • The Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester wants the incident prosecuted as a hate crime if arrests are made

The posters appeared on campus on Sunday. The school says they single out Jewish faculty, staff and some members of the administration. The flyers depicted images of the university community members under a “wanted” logo and criticize them for their alleged response to the war in Gaza. They have since been removed.

“When you think about a wanted sign and what that means and what the intent is, it's a little scary,” said the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester’s Meredith Dragon.

She says this is an act of antisemitism and that it’s deeply disturbing.

“This is really unprecedented," Dragon said. "So, it's the first time across the college campus that particular individuals have been singled out systematically in this way and accused of particular crimes. These wanted posters haven't come up any place else. And I wonder if Rochester was sort of a testing ground to see if this was the next big thing that was going to happen on college campuses.”

Milena Zeltser is a freshman and from Israel. She lost family and friends on Oct. 7. It's something she says is too emotional to talk about.

“So, I personally felt very unsafe and unwelcomed," Zeltser said. "I was scared to reveal my Jewish and Israeli identity in that sense. Like, most of the time, people would ask me where I'm from and I would say, Moldova or like where my parents are from, because I was scared to be targeted or experience antisemitism for being Israeli or Jewish."

Students and the Jewish community at large are calling for the university to take this extremely seriously.

“I think a clear message should be shared that hate is not tolerated in any way, shape or form, especially in the form of antisemitism and anti-Zionism," Katz said. "I consider that racism."

“I would like the university to treat this as seriously as they can," Dragon said. "And I would like our legal system to treat this as a hate crime, because it is."

“I feel like the university should welcome everybody, no matter where they're from or what country they're from," Zeltser said. "So that's what I'm feeling."

In a statement released Tuesday, University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf called the posters "disturbing, divisive and intimidating," and said they run counter to U of R's values.

"We view this as antisemitism, which will not be tolerated at our University," Mangelsdorf said. "This isn’t who we are. This goes against everything we stand for and we have an obligation to reject it." 

Earlier this year, the U of R experienced numerous anti-Israel protests, an encampment and the takeover of an administration building by those protestors.

No arrests have been made in connection with this incident.