WASHINGTON D.C., March 24, 2015 (WTOP): A senior law professor at George Washington University is blasting the school for a decision to crack down on a student who posted an image of a Hindu swastika on a bulletin board. The student, a Jewish man, posted the religious symbol on a bulletin board belonging to his largely-Jewish fraternity on March 16. University President Steven Knapp issued a statement calling the display “utterly unacceptable.” The symbol has long been associated with hatred toward Jews, Knapp writes in his statement. And the case has been handed over to D.C. police to be reviewed by the department’s hate crimes unit.
The student says the whole incident was a misunderstanding. He claims the symbol he posted was a Hindu symbol representing peace that he brought home from a spring break trip to India. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum “The swastika has an extensive history. It was used at least 5,000 years before Adolf Hitler designed the Nazi flag. The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means “good fortune” or “well-being.”