(CNN) – Hundreds of posters depicting Jewish faculty members as “wanted” were plastered on the University of Rochester campus in upstate New York Sunday night, an anti-Semitic act the school’s president told CNN “will not be tolerated.”

The posters criticize faculty members for their alleged response to the Gaza war. One poster accuses a faculty member of “ethnic cleansing” and “displacing Palestinians.” A different poster accuses another faculty member of “racism,” “hate speech” and intimidation.

“I want to be as clear as possible that the University of Rochester strongly condemns the recent display of ‘Ducat’ posters targeting senior university leaders and members of our faculty, staff and board of trustees,” University President Sarah Mangelsdorf said in a statement. -a statement from Tuesday. “This act is disturbing, divisive and intimidating and goes against our values ​​as a university.”

One of the targets of the vandalism, Gregory Heyworth, an associate professor of English and computer science, told CNN in an email that he was grateful to the university for its public stance and the president’s “clear condemnation of the anti-Semitism of the posters.”

Heyworth said he “was accused of ‘threatening to dox’ the protesting students in a poster who actually committed the crime of doxing.”

The professor noted the hypocrisy of the vandals, their “willingness to push the boundaries of anti-democratic behavior and violate freedom of speech – to lie, misrepresent and propagandize – while relying on the same democratic values ​​for cover”.

Since The Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the ensuing war in Gazastatements by students, faculty and administrators related to the conflict have ignited college campuses across the United States.

Tensions in the Middle East rage on, with Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza causing a dire humanitarian crisis, while galvanizing global support from supporters of Israel and the Palestinians, many in favor of a ceasefire.

The University of Rochester’s Hillel organization, which represents Jewish students, called the posters “deeply disturbing” in a statement to CNN and said its principal was one of the targets, as were Jewish faculty and staff, but not the students.

The organization called the incident “an opportunity for the university to reflect on what is needed to instill meaningful education about the Jewish people and anti-Semitism so that UR is a place where Jewish life can thrive fully and safely.” .

The head of the University for Public Safety, Quchee Collins, in a letter posted on the school website called the incident “an act of vandalism” that appeared to be aimed at “intimidating members of our university community.” He said his department is investigating.

CNN also reached out to the Hillel director pictured on a poster, who responded with an automated email reply.

“We appreciated everyone’s support in light of the recent hateful and anti-Semitic incident on campus,” the response said.

This is not the first incident targeting the university’s Jewish community. Swastikas and anti-Semitic language written on the walls of the River Campus tunnel were discovered in February, according to the university. The Department of Public Safety immediately removed the “harmful symbols and words,” the university said.

The tunnels where the “disturbing discovery” was made are used by students to share news of campus activities and express the university’s multicultural identity, according to a press release.

“I’m just tired. It’s been a long year and I desperately want peace, but to do things like this, to target teachers, administration and staff to intimidate and spread hate, while making more work for maintenance staff is wrong ,” a Jewish student at the University of Rochester, who declined to be identified for fear of retribution, told CNN on Tuesday.

“Yesterday we were scared and worried,” the student said. “Today we work for understanding and peace.”

Another Jewish student, who also declined to be identified for fear of retribution, said he discovered the posters around 10pm on Sunday.

“When I first saw this, I was horrified and angry,” the student said.

The Department of Public Safety was notified of the posters and removed them.

“This process is painstaking because of the strong adhesive used to stick the posters, which in some cases has caused damage to walls, floors, blackboards and other surfaces,” Collins said.

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