<p>Reuters
"NEW YORK - Police are investigating a third suspected hate crime at New York's Columbia University after a swastika was spray-painted on the office door of a Jewish faculty member on Wednesday.</p>
<p>The university said in a statement that the swastika was spray-painted on the door of a Jewish faculty member at Teachers' College on Wednesday.</p>
<p>They do such good work at that teacher's college. I know a fine young woman who studied how to teach autistic students there. I hope they find this person. It has the same tone as the noose on the prof's door, doesn't it.</p>
<p>I wonder if we are seeing an emergence of a new kind of hate crime: the perpetrator may be angry at the victim for some individual reason, and strikes out at the victim with a symbol that can be expected to offend/terrorize the victim; as opposed to targeting the victim because of the victim's membership in a particular group.</p>
<p>Interesting theory, Hunt. A very knowledgeable agency about hate crime is the ADL (Anti-Defamation League) that tracks and classifies race and hate crimes. I often check their website when something like this happens, just for their perspective. </p>
<p>Their newest specialty is internet hate activity, so much so that the FBI consults with them sometimes to track incidents before they occur. ADL knows what the various groups are, where they're meeting, who they're sending to meetings interstate, and more.</p>
<p>I have to wonder whether many of these particular actions are the works of groups at all...would a hate group go to Columbia to spray a swastika on the door of one Jewish faculty member? Maybe they would if that professor was outspoken on some related topic, I suppose. But if the perpetrator is somebody who has something against that teacher for a personal reason, the use of the swastika is still grosss, but its social meaning isn't the same.</p>