Lawmaker questions San Jose State's handling of antisemitic incidents

Jason Green, The Mercury News on Mar 24, 2026

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SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Republican lawmaker has called into question San Jose State University’s handling of antisemitic incidents earlier this month and last fall at the campus.

In a letter last week, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, D-La., asked SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson to answer nearly two dozen pointed questions related to the incidents, including what actions the university has taken in response, whether it has identified the people responsible, and what disciplinary or criminal recourse it is pursuing.

Cassidy — the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said he also wants to know how the university has responded to fears and concerns Jewish students and employees have expressed over their safety and well-being.

“San Jose State University officials’ response to growing antisemitism on the campus premises is inadequate and demands accountability,” Cassidy wrote in the letter. Teniente-Matson has until April 2 to respond to the questions posed in the letter.

According to the letter, antisemitic threats were found scrawled on walls earlier this month. One stated “kill all Jews,” while another stated “SJSU, sorry, but for Allah 3/11 will be 9/11.”

In a campuswide message Friday, the university said the graffiti was removed and no evidence was identified to indicate a credible threat, Cassidy wrote in the letter.

“However, this has done little to allay fears among Jewish students,” the senator said.

Several of Cassidy’s questions revolved around the university’s response to the incident, which was to hold a counseling session. Jewish students did not attend because they “feared for their physical safety and did not want to gather in large numbers to become easy targets in the face of a very real threat,” according to the letter.

“Under the circumstances, why was a counseling session recommended as the best course of action?” Cassidy asked in one question.

The letter highlighted another antisemitic incident last fall, when swastikas and threats of a mass shooting targeting Jewish and other minority students were found etched on a bathroom stall. The threats, like the others, were not credible, but Cassidy said “it did not alleviate growing fear and concern among students and faculty.”

The university, the senator continued, apparently did not issue official statements condemning the incidents this month or last fall.

“Antisemitic threats are vile and have absolutely no place in our educational institutions or on college campuses,” Cassidy said. “It is imperative that university administrators rise to the occasion to take a firm stand against antisemitism and racial violence.”

San Jose State officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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