BURSTThe University of Michigan on Monday denounced an attack on the home of Jordan Acker, a university regent, in which his house was vandalized and pro-Palestinian messages were spray-painted on his wife's car.
“The vandalism of Regent Jordan Acker’s home early this morning is a clear act of antisemitic intimidation. The University of Michigan condemns these criminal acts in the strongest possible terms,” the school said in a statement.
Acker told CNN the incident happened around 2 a.m., when he heard the glass from the front window on his home shatter.
“This is unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We call on our community to come together in solidarity and to firmly reject all forms of bigotry and violence,” the university said.
The individuals vandalized the car with what Acker told the outlet were “messages about Palestine with a Hamas upside triangle.”
The message on the car said “divest” and “free Palestine.”
“As a public official, you expect a certain level of criticism — even protests — but this is not protest, this is terrorism,” Acker told CNN.
“This has nothing to do with the First Amendment, has nothing to do with Palestine, nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with trying to harass and intimidate Jews,” he added. “And this Jew will not be intimidated by it.”
The vandalism comes just days after the university said it would no longer require diversity statements for faculty hiring, promotion or tenure.
This is also not the first time Acker was personally attacked, with his law firm vandalized with pro-Palestinian messages back in June.
“Public leaders have public obligations, and I would call on every member of our congressional delegation — any elected official in Michigan — to call this out publicly as antisemitism because that’s exactly what this is,” Acker said.
Many universities have struggled with a spike in antisemitism since Israel's war in Gaza began last year.
Last month, the University of Rochester had "wanted" posters of Jewish faculty members plastered around its campus.