A Jewish professor at Syracuse University in New York received a threatening anonymous email last week containing anti-Semitic language and references to the Holocaust.
The email that Genevieve García de Müeller—a professor of writing, rhetoric and composition–got on Tuesday morning had a subject line that read “Jew,” and in the body of the email she was told to “get in the oven where you belong, you monstrous looking kike.” She tweeted a screenshot of the message.
Müeller called the Department of Public Safety after receiving the email, and DPS directed her to the Syracuse Police Department because the incident occurred while she was off-campus.
She said on Thursday via Twitter that the FBI and local police are working on the case, and they have increased police patrols in her neighborhood. The professor added that she has barely left her home and cannot return to campus yet.
“Immediately, I thought of the safety of my family,” Müeller said of the email. “I don’t know who would’ve sent it. I don’t know who knows I’m Jewish. It’s not something I talk about in class necessarily, but it was very personal to me.”
The university last week suspended all fraternity activities for the rest of this semester following a series of at least 12 hate crimes or bias-related incidents that have been reported since Nov. 7, according to campus student newspaper The Daily Orange.
Müeller added, “This is not something that’s new to campus. So, this may feel very threatening and very real and a moment of panic, but this is deeply embedded in the culture and history of SU. ... I’m not the only one who receives threats like this. So yes, I want a personal response, but more important than that, I want to see something happen.”
