Students charged with hate crime after pork is tossed into a Jewish fraternity on Rosh Hashana

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

Updated 3:03 PM CDT, September 24, 2025

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Two Syracuse University students face hate crimes charges after authorities say one of them tossed a bag of pork into Jewish fraternity house during a Rosh Hashanah celebration.

The incident occurred around 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house, where members had gathered to mark the Jewish New Year, according to the New York school’s chief student experience officer, Allen Groves.

One of the two men charged is accused of entering the home and tossing in a clear plastic bag of pork against an interior wall, splattering the contents there and on the floor, university police said.

The man then fled the home and got into a vehicle driven by another man. The two, both 18, were soon captured and have been charged with burglary as a hate crime and criminal nuisance.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/syracuse-university-rosh-hashana-hate-crime-pork-401527c4be4961c83d38cd98d7ac45a6

[iemanja]

1. That's gross, horrible, and immature.

[Deuxcents]

2. No slap on the wrists for them..real punishment..this is unacceptable behavior

[MarineCombatEngineer]

3. They should be charged,

especially trespassing into a private home to commit a hate crime.

[Turbineguy]

4. trumphumper humor.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

5. As students

then they should be expelled on top of being criminally prosecuted.

[joanbarnes]

6. Who can AFFORD to vandalize with pork, or any meat?

[meow2u3]

19. Seems to me like rich bigots were responsible for this

Frat bros can usually afford to waste a good cut of pork to commit a hate crime against Jewish people when that meat could have been eaten or given to poor families. But NOOOOOO!

[RVN VET71]

32. Rich Nazi spawn at Syracuse University, apparently

I don't actually know the boys' (emphasis on that word) motives, but I am thinking they were laughing as they drove off. But they didn't laugh because they had pulled off a daring act of undergraduate silliness, a "prank". They laughed at what they had done to Jews, at their attack on Jews, on Jewish culture, on Jewish belief and religion, at the slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazis.

I hope the law deals with them fairly and justly. I expect the University will expel them. I also expect they've screwed up their own otherwise lily-white privileged futures.

Proud Beispiele für die MAGA-Herrenvolk!

[AZJonnie]

7. Obviously this is hateful, but I'd hazard a guess it'll be pled down, without the hate crime part

Unlike something like spray-painting swastikas on a temple wall, charging "tossing pork at a wall" as a hate crime might be a bit of a stretch in a court of law. Not sure you'd get a conviction is all I mean

I like that these assholes are going to have to sweat it out for a while though, they definitely deserve that. And they sure as hell need to be EXPELLED, post-haste!

[SSJVegeta]

9. Charging this as a hate crime seems en par with charging bigoted tweets over religion the same way.

[karynnj]

17. Even ignoring kashrut, this is a hateful, disgusting action

intended to ruin the holiday. The frat was attacked only because it was Jewish. Imagine how you would feel if someone broke into your house and threw a bag of meat at your dining room wall when you prepared to celebrate a meal.
You agree ( as would I) that painting swastikas on a synagogue is a hate crime. In some ways, this might be worse as it is directed against Jews for no reason other than being Jewish and destroys their sense of security in their home.

[yardwork]

33. I think it's just as hateful as a swastika.

And more difficult to clean up.

[AZJonnie]

39. Again, not Jewish so not sure

But I'd think something they're not supposed to eat per their religion, only applicable to the religiously adherent compared to a symbol of enslavement & slaughter of millions of them based on ethnicity would seem to me to be on fairly different levels. But again my point was what charges would likely succeed in court. I guess it would depend on the applicable law and how it's written

[yardwork]

41. Observant Jews don't touch or eat pork.

[AZJonnie]

42. Again, in no way downplaying how shitty this was, the people need to be firmly punished

I support the hate crime charge, throw the book at these jerks If they can make it stick, great! My suspicion is that they'll leverage it to get a guilty plea on burglary and vandalism w/o going to court though. If prosecutors could count on a jury of 12 observant Jews, it'd be a shoo-in, but they can't. I dunno, hoping we'll hear how it turns out later.

Thanks for the talk and info

[stopdiggin]

8. can be little real doubt that this action was specifically targeting ....

I would be additionally interested to see if there was somebody, or something, behind (and encouraging?, incentivizing?) the perpetrators ... ?
The terms 'grooming' and 'radicalization' - cover some significant territory ...
One could hope, I suppose, that this was some kind of sick frat boy prank. Still pretty ugly stuff (and knowingly so?) - but that would be putting the best possible spin ...

[marble falls]

10. Very good the police caught these two fascists so quickly.

[Exp]

11. Offensive? YES! Hate crime? About as much as stalling DJT's escalator. nt

[LudwigPastorius]

22. This fits the legal definition of a hate crime if he was not invited into the frat house.

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/485.05

A prosecutor would have to prove that he entered unbidden and that his motivation was because they were Jewish.

Don't know about the first part, but the second part seems pretty evident.

[Exp]

29. Ask the ICC about what a crime really is. nt

[LudwigPastorius]

30. What does the ICC have to do with New York state law?

[stopdiggin]

24. if they had smeared the blood into swastikas - would you're answer remain the same?

And if it does not - then you would admit that symbolism, and symbolic action (?) (sometimes) meets that bar .. ?

Note: I think you have a right to your own threshold/bar. Just laying out a thought process.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[yardwork]

34. Maybe you don't understand the circumstances and meaning here.

Jewish people who keep kosher don't eat or even touch pork. Throwing pork against the walls and floors of their home, during the high holy days, is an intentional act of religious hatred.

[CanonRay]

12. They'll get hired by Turning Point

or some GOP think tank.

[rpannier]

14. Would not be surprised if we find out they're

Candace Owens listeners
That woman may be the worst person among the anti-Semitic crowd

[Srkdqltr]

13. They should be jailed until they grow up. That stunt is so incredibly stupid.

[rpannier]

15. They should be jailed until they grow up.

They'd likely be in jail for a verrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy long time
I wouldn't miss them

[Srkdqltr]

20. Probably, throwing pork at people who don't eat pork is so beond stupid.

Should we throw coffee at people who don't drink coffee?

[yardwork]

35. It's not the same thing.

[Paladin]

16. I'd expect a lot better, from Syracuse students.

Hope they get kicked out.

And yes, as a matter of fact I do have relatives who are Syracuse graduates.

[yardwork]

36. Syracuse is a good school. This could happen anywhere.

There's a lot of bad people in our country right now, doing bad things.

[Paladin]

38. You're correct, obviously. (nt)

[Polybius]

18. I'd like to see what the accused look like, or at least their names

Are they MAGA? Pro-Palestinian activists? Pranksters? We need a motive.

[yardwork]

37. It's going to be the same motive.

Maybe this is a good opportunity to pause and look at what underlies the hate crimes committed against Jewish people.

MAGA? They hate Jewish people.

Pranksters? Why this particular target and use of calculated symbolism? They hate Jewish people.

Pro-Palestinian "activists"? How does committing a religious hate crime against a Jewish fraternity in upstate New York help the people in Gaza? They hate Jewish people.

It's always the same motive, no matter how you dress it up.

[Jose Garcia]

40. Kyle Anderson and Samuel Patten

https://dailyorange.com/2025/09/su-students-identified-charged-zeta-beta-tau-hate-crime/

[AZLD4Candidate]

21. As an alum of Sigma Alpha Mu (another Jewish fraternity), I am not shocked but completed sickened

While there is a friendly rivalry between the three Jewish fraternities (ZBT, Alpha Epsilon Pi, and mine), we all come together when Jews are targeted.

But we've been targeted many times since Oct 4th. This is just another attack on Jews that will be whitewashed by pretty much everyone.

[electric_blue68]

23. Really disgusting! Especially bc of the High Holy days!

[Buddyzbuddy]

25. This should not be treated lightly. It was an attack against ALL JEWS.

They should be charged with everything possible to recieve the maximum possible penalty. Let's see how funny they think that is. It is a form of terrorism in the classic sense of the word. Comparable to setting a cross on fire in a yard by the KKK. It's done to strike fear. The fear must be felt by the attackers therefore the greatest possible penalties must be ordered both as a punishment as well as a deterrence to all future attacks.

[Bread and Circuses]

26. Vile behavior

All this hate and lack of civility is directly tied to over 50 years of hate and lies from the Rat Republicans,

I’m very sorry for the Jewish Students during Rosh Hashanah.

May Loving-Kindness surround all humanity.

[ReRe]

27. I agree!!!!!!

Throw them behind bars. They should be charged for more than just hate. They should be severely (yrs behind bars) punished for being a menace to CIVILIZATION itself. Throw the book at them!~!!!!

Syracuse University, no less!~ Throw them out of all NCAA sports!

I'm pissed, if you can't tell. Sorry.

[wolfie001]

31. Names and faces should be public

I hope someone leaks them ASAP. Shame them. And then let the judicial consequences follow.