Two students at Syracuse University, Samuel Patten and Kyle Anderson, have been charged with hate crimes after one of the students tossed a bag full of pork into a fraternity on Rosh Hashanah.
Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick confirmed the two students were arrested and charged with burglary as a hate crime, according to Syracuse.com. Additionally, court papers viewed by the outlet stated that they were also charged with criminal nuisance.
The court papers, which were filed by police in Syracuse, said the crimes were a “religiously motivated attack” on Zeta Beta Tau (ZBT), a fraternity that is historically Jewish.
Fitzpatrick explained that the incident was being labeled as a hate crime because it happened on the Jewish High Holy Day of Rosh Hashanah. Many Jewish people do not eat pork because they’re expected to eat kosher, per Chabad.org. According to the website, the “commandment” to only eat kosher items “refines the person and instills self-discipline.”
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“This incident is not a foolish college prank and will not be treated as such,” Fitzpatrick said, per Syracuse.com. “It will be treated for what it is, a crime directed against a group of Jewish students enjoying a celebratory dinner and seemingly secure in their residence.”
Patten, 18, and Anderson, 18, were arraigned on the morning of Wednesday, September 24, in Syracuse City Court. They are currently being held in the Justice Center Jail and Judge Derrek Thomas set their bail at $1500, according to digital court records viewed by the outlet.
While Patten was accused of throwing the bag of pork into the home, Anderson has been accused of driving Patten to and from the fraternity house, per LocalSYR.com.
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“At approximately 6 p.m., brothers of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity were gathered in their chapter house to celebrate the first night of Rosh Hashanah when a student, who is not part of the fraternity, reportedly entered the fraternity house and threw meat, believed to be pork, on the floor while fraternity members were eating a dinner to celebrate this important religious holiday for the Jewish community,” the Syracuse University administration said in a statement about the incident, per LocalSYR.com.
The University’s Chief Student Experience Officer Allen Groves called the incident “abhorrent, shocking to the conscience, and violates our core value of being a place that is truly welcoming to all. It will not be tolerated at Syracuse University,” according to LocalSYR.com.
Meanwhile, the Onondaga County District Attorney said the city rarely had hate crimes “to investigate or prosecute.”
“I leave to other professionals the effort to seek out what sort of mental state would lead one to be of a mind to find this activity acceptable or amusing,” the statement continued, per LocalSYR.com. “I’m a prosecutor, not a psychiatrist. I plan on meeting with the victims in this case, the young men of ZBT, and seeking their input before any disposition is reached in this matter.”
