Michigan – The Central Michigan University
president says he is “deeply disappointed” about an antisemitic Valentine’s Day
card that was produced during a campus Republican group meeting, then
apparently given to a pair of students by a member of that group, which says it
was an unsanctioned mistake.
The card was in a bag that was handed
to the students Wednesday night by a member of the College Republicans at
Central Michigan, which immediately apologized while distancing itself from the
incident. The card, which the group called “very inappropriate,” shows Adolf
Hitler alongside the words “my love 4 u burns like 6,000 jews” .
University
President George Ross said campus leaders met Thursday
morning “to review the situation and determine next steps.”
“This is not who we are as a campus community,” he said in a statement. “Such
hurtful, offensive language, while protected by the First Amendment, is
unacceptable and is not consistent with our values and standards.”
School administrators, he added, “caution against concluding
that the action is representative of the entire student organization or its
members.”
In a statement, the College Republicans at
the university in Mount Pleasant, Mich., said they were not responsible for the
antisemitic card.
“At tonight’s College Republicans meeting, we had a Valentine’s
Day party, in which each member decorated a bag and other members placed
valentines inside of others’ bags,” the group said. “Unfortunately, a very
inappropriate card was placed into a bag without other members’ knowledge. A
bag was then given away to students sitting in Anspach [Hall], once again
without members’ knowledge of its contents. The College Republicans as an
organization did not distribute this valentine. We in no way condone this type
of rhetoric or anti-Semitism. We apologize for any offense and want students to
know that we do not tolerate this sort of behavior.”
