A local college is investigating accusations that a student-athlete posted a message on twitter saying she wanted to kill Jewish people in Lakewood, New Jersey.
The tweet was posted back on December 19 in 2013 but only recently reappeared on social media. Officials believe the tweet was made by a student and track team member at Delaware Valley College in Doylestown. The school was founded by a Jewish rabbi back in the 1890s.
“I would never think that someone would write that on social media,” said Courtney Parahus, a junior at the school.
The school is currently reviewing the message and said it has a “zero tolerance policy for bias speech on campus.”
The student who allegedly made the tweet is originally from Lakewood, a town with a heavily-Jewish population. Just last month, NBC10 uncovered anti-Semitic social media posts, including a swastika and a Nazi pose, made by teens from a neighboring town targeting Lakewood.
Rabbi Howard Cove of the Beiteinu Synagogue in Haverford, Pennsylvania, told NBC10 he’s hesitant to cast quick judgment but is grateful the college is taking action.
“I think it’s key that the authorities, the people who know better, speak up and stop it at the outset,” Cove said.
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A spokesman for the school told NBC10 a special response team, student affairs and the athletic department have all been notified and will work together to respond to the individual student as well as the student body.
