Jewish Structures Vandalized At Three Ivy League Schools

Vandals have damaged Jewish ceremonial structures on three Ivy League campuses this month, but only officials at Brown University said this week that they consider anti-Semitism a dominant motive.

Several officials at Brown. Dartmouth and Yale, where the incidents occurred, agreed that although anger against Jews has increased due to Israel's actions in the Middle East, the three incidents are unrelated. Police have not arrested anyone so far. University administrators said this week.

Although the Dartmouth and Yale incidents occurred within a week of the Brown vandalism. Dartmouth and Yale officials blame drunken destructiveness for their two incidents.

The three structures were all sukkahs, temporary shelters built for Sukkot, a holiday commemorating the Jews' 40 years of wandering in the desert.

At Brown, the October 1 vandalism was originally thought to be in support of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), after police found a PLO pamphlet amid the wreckage. However, this pamphlet was actually part of a Zionist educational exhibit that had been displayed in the sukkah.

The vandals apparently were drunk, but this was still a deliberate and partially anti-Semitic act, said Sharon E. Cohen, administrative assistant for Hillel at Brown. Hillel members rebuilt the sukkah, which remained undamaged for the rest of the eight-day holiday.

"I think this was an anti-Semitic act, although I doubt it's part of a growing movement," said Rabbi Alan C. Flan, directors of Hillel. "There has always been some anti-Semitic feeling opinion in the country which sometimes surfaces," he added.

At Dartmouth, the vandals knew that they were destroying a Jewish structure, but it was drunkenness, not anti-Semitic, that was responsible, said Rabbi Michael Paley, associate chaplain. He added that those responsible probably did not understand the significance of the sukkah, "became there are less Jews here."

As article that appeared prior to the Dartmouth vandalism in The Dartmouth Review, a conservative campus weekly newspaper, compared the sukkah to west hank settlements. The newspaper also ran a picture of the sukkah with the caption "Grin and Beirut," but Paley said no link could he deter mined unless the vandals were caught.

At Yale, the destruction of a small sukkah was just "undirected, drunken Saturday night vandalism and not anti-Semitic," said Rabbi Laurie Rutenberg, assistant university chaplain.

"While these acts may not be anti-Semitic, every school must will be on record as completely condemning and punishing any act against a symbol or object of religious importance," said Leonard P. Zakim, eastern states civil rights director of the Anti-determination League of B'nai Brith.