University Police charged a McCormick freshman Thursday night in connection with anti-Semitic graffiti found Jan. 15 at Sargent Hall, said Asst. Chief Daniel McAleer of University Police.
Neil N. Gajare, 19, was charged with institutional vandalism and felony criminal damage to property, according to a press release from Northwestern University Relations.
A community assistant found the graffiti on walls and in the stairwell of Sargent’s second floor. Anti-Semitic statements, two swastikas and sketches of a rabbit were drawn throughout the dorm. The graffiti did not target any particular student, McAleer said.
A bond hearing for Gajare was held at the Circuit Court in Skokie Friday morning, said Marcy Jensen, spokeswoman for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Gajare posted bond and was released, she said. He is now at home in Michigan with his family, said Weinberg freshman Reaha Campbell, Gajare’s friend.
Gajare did not respond to messages left on his answering machine and with his sister.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 26 at the Circuit Court, Jensen said.
could face up to five years in prison if convicted of the two felonies, she said.
“We are extremely disappointed in the alleged actions of one of our students,” Northwestern Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis said in a press release. “This type of activity is an affront not just to our Jewish students, but to the entire University community. Such behavior is reprehensible and completely unacceptable at Northwestern.”
Al Cubbage, NU’s vice president for university relations, would not comment on whether Gajare would remain at NU or what penalties Gajare could face.
Campbell, a Sargent resident and Gajare’s ex-girlfriend, said he had come to Sargent to visit her the night before the drawings were found.
She and Gajare had broken up about a week ago, she said.
“He seemed to be intoxicated when he came over,” Campbell said. “He was staggering around, and (he) fell and knocked his head. He told me he had been drinking that night.”
Campbell said she saw the drawings of a rabbit the next morning and thought of Gajare, who is “obsessed with rabbits,” she said.
When she asked him about the drawings, he said he drew the rabbit but did not remember if he drew the other graffiti, she said.
Gajare admitted to a community assistant in Sargent several days later that he drew the graffiti, Campbell said.
“I’m not trying to make this seem less terrible or excusable,” Campbell said. “I think he should be punished. But he’s just not someone who would do this.”
Gajare is an accepting student who has friends of all different ethnicities, said Weinberg freshman Gene Schwartz, who met Gajare through the Honors Program in Medical Education.
“He never showed anything against the Jewish people,” said Schwartz, who is Jewish and grew up in Israel. “I hope the administration doesn’t take action as though it was a part of his ideology. It was extremely out of his character.”
McCormick freshman and Sargent resident Lenore Kaplan said she is glad the incident is resolved but was not alarmed.
“I’ve never felt unsafe,” Kaplan said. “Even when I saw (the graffiti), I didn’t feel unsafe because I know the people I live with.”
Rabbi Josh Feigelson said on behalf of the Fiedler Hillel Center they are happy the university took an active role in handling the situation.
“We are very gratified that the university has taken this issue so seriously,” Feigelson said. “It sends a powerful message that the administration is committed to keeping Northwestern a welcoming and hospitable place for Jews and for people of all religious and ethnic backgrounds.”
Reach Laura Olson at [email protected].
