DePaul, other colleges hit by anti-Semitic fliers

CHICAGO (Associated Press) - Several colleges including DePaul University in Chicago are investigating after a rash of anti-Semitic fliers began printing from their network-connected printers or fax machines.

   The fliers began to appear Thursday at institutions including Princeton University; Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island; the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

   "Princeton attaches great importance to mutual respect, and we deplore expressions of hatred directed against any individual or group," the university's vice provost for institutional equity and inclusion, Michele Minter, said in a statement. 

   The director of the New England office of the Anti-Defamation League, Robert Trestan, said a white power group appears to have hacked into school printers. He said that's a new tactic for a hate group.

   The fliers are addressed to "white men" and disparage Jewish people. They include links to a neo-Nazi website.

   Trestan said the founder of the website previously urged supporters to troll perceived enemies, including a Jewish member of the British Parliament, Luciana Berger, on Twitter.  

   He said other affected schools include Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts; the University of California, Santa Cruz; Northeastern University, in Boston; the University of Rhode Island; the University of Connecticut; DePaul University, in Chicago, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

   The chancellor of UMass Amherst, Kumble Subbaswamy, called the fliers "cowardly" in an email to students and faculty members.

   "This despicable incident reminds us that we must not be complacent as we continue to strive for a society that embraces diversity, inclusion and equity -- a society where everyone feels safe and welcome," he wrote.