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[quote]
A violent anti-Semitic hate crime took place early Sunday in East Lansing, Michigan when 19 year old Zachary Tennen was beaten unconscious and then had his mouth stapled by two men, according to his family.</p>
<p>Tennen, a sophomore at Michigan State University, was approached by the men at a party early on Sunday and asked if he was Jewish, his mother said. The men proceeded to raise their right arms in a Nazi salute and said “Heil Hitler”, before beating Tennen unconscious. According to Tennen’s mother, 20 people watched while her son had his mouth stapled by the two suspects.
<p>What's the word on campus? Why the reluctance to call it a hate crime? Just wondering how this assault is being handled and discussed on campus.</p>
<p>I am ****ed at the student to be honest. He lied about what happened to him. There is enough hate in the world, he didn’t need to lie to bring more in. </p>
<p>Those who beat him should be charged with assault. He should not get off the hook though.</p>
<p>Both my roommate and I have Jewish heritage. We both “look Jewish”. Two of our best friends are devotedly Jewish. We’re all ****ed off at the kid.</p>
<p>Thank you for that info. I thought aspects of his allegations seemed fishy. Why would his assailants just happen to have a stapler with them? Sad incident all the way around.</p>
<p>It was very disturbing to hear this happened and there is very little information about the student and his attackers- which is good so that there is a fair trial. All we know is that the student was punched in the face and we know nothing about the people who did it. The rest is his word vs theirs. There is no mention of motive beyond his story- no robbery, no provocation noted. It’s very disturbing to think he was beat up because of his religion and also disturbing to think that he may have made this up. Something happened, and I hope the truth is known.</p>
<p>Penny, that’s just it. The truth really IS known. It’s his word vs about 40 people. </p>
<p>He was punched. Once. It had NOTHING to do with religion. The kid is also the son of a high powered attorney. </p>
<p>He lied about pretty much everything. It was about one punch. There were no staples. His friends gave him frozen vegetables and sent him to the hospital. NONE of his story was true. This kid doesn’t have an ounce of credibility. </p>
<p>Did he deserve to be punched? No. But he sure as hell didn’t need to slander the people who did it either. </p>
<p>From rumors I’ve heard, the kid was drunk and running his mouth. A guy punched him and walked away. The kid doesn’t want to admit to being drunk and such because dad doesn’t let him drink. Again, I stress this is a RUMOR. But it makes a hell of a lot more sense than the original story.</p>
<p>have been following this also, thanks to RVM…but I am very disturbed by this turn of events; the New York rags already got a hold of this story and I don’t think they have printed a retraction…</p>
<p>I do not have a “horse in this race” but if someone is going to make something like this up, it would be nice if the media (at least around here) could get their acts together and follow up on a reported story…</p>
<p>Thanks Romangypsyeyes- I figured the kids at MSU would know more than the press would release at the time. I just cringe at the idea of someone doing this. On the other hand, nobody should be blamed for something they did not do- especially a “hate” crime, and if this student made up the story, that is a horrible thing to do.</p>
<p>The bigger issue of course, is bigotry of any kind- to any human being and causing someone harm for that low reason is just heinous. It’s not the only reason for dispute between people. Calling out “bigotry” when there is none, has ramifications. Like the boy who cried wolf, faking this will make it hard to believe it one time when it is real. We should never become less sensitive to this as it devalues everyone.</p>
<p>I hope the questions are resolved soon. There should be appropriate consequences for all involved.</p>
<p>I understand that the MSU Jewish community would not condone falsifying this. At this point there are still so many questions. Why was he punched hard enough to break his jaw? We know nothing about the suspect(s). I understand the police not releasing evidence if it ruins the case but it’s puzzling.</p>
<p>The circumstances about the event aren’t explained well in the press, but the police don’t always reveal details in an investigation so that they can collect evidence and insure a fair trial. Hopefully we will learn more.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how it’s not making a great impression. The “attacker” in the original story does not appear to be an MSU student at all. So that’s not a reflection of MSU. The only poor reflection is that this kid lied. </p>
<p>The other attack I’ll reserve judgement on until the facts come out.</p>
<p>With 40k-ish students, some things are bound to happen. But the important thing to remember is that these all happened OFF campus and at parties with alcohol involved. </p>
<p>And with the second attack, it seems that his girlfriend was involved too. For all we know, he attacked his gf and the guys were defending her. We won’t know until more is released.</p>
<p>You’re right, with a school of that size, two off campus altercations might not really have any bearing on the university itself. I just meant that I don’t normally follow the events at Michigan State, until recent events caught my attention. And these are unfortunate events, obviously.</p>
<p>Two sides to every story.
That is really a shame that the kid lied. It’d be a bigger shame if he doesn’t get charged for giving false information to the police!</p>