Computer science and engineering students at the University of Michigan received three mass emails containing racist and anti-Semitic messages on Tuesday night.
As the Michigan Daily reported, two identical emails were sent under the subject line “African American Student Diversity” with the message “Hi n*****s, I just wanted to say that I plan to kill all of you. White power! The KKK has returned!!! Heil Trump!!!!”
The third was sent under the subject line “Jewish Student Diversity” with the message, “Hi you fucking filthy jews, I just wanted to say the SS will rise again and kill all of your filthy souls. Die in a pit of eternal fire! Sincerely, Dr. Alex Halderman.”
Halderman, a professor of computer science and engineering at the university, told the Daily that the emails were were “spoofed” to appear as if they came from him and one of his PhD students, Matt Bernhard. “Matt and I did not send them, and we don’t know who did. As I teach in my computer security classes, it takes very little technical sophistication to forge the sender’s address in an email,” he said.
Halderman added that he believed his name was used because of his status as an election security expert. He had previously encouraged a recount in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania to make sure that vote totals in the recent presidential election had not been subject to hacking. “This appears to be a cowardly action by someone who is unhappy about the research that Matt and I do in support of electoral integrity,” he told the Daily.
In a joint statement, Michigan Hillel executive director Tilly Shames, Board of Trustees chairman Bob Stone, and Governing Board chair Joshua Blum said that the emails “were deeply disturbing and upsetting to our Jewish community.”
It is important that we come together in this moment to show this kind of hate will not be tolerated. Hate has no place on our campus. As Leaders and Best, we will not be defined by these hateful messages but rather by the way we come together in response to them, showing our support for one another.
We stand with all students and faculty impacted by these emails, and will continue to seek ways to offer support and unite as a campus community.
University spokesman Rick Fitzgerald told local TV station WWJ that university police were “continuing to investigate, both with a criminal investigation open by U of M police department and working closely with the FBI as we move forward here.”
The incident comes a few months after racist, Islamophobic, and homophobic posters were found on campus, leading to protests from students. Around 40 students protested outside the home of university president Mark Schlissel early Wednesday morning.
Former Michigan student Molly Rosen wrote for The Tower in 2014 about her experience battling anti-Semitism as a Jewish student on campus.
[Photo: phoebelb / Wikimedia ]