Students reported to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department Monday that an individual on Library Mall did a Nazi salute during yesterday’s UW-Madison pro-Palestine rally. There is no indication this person is affiliated with the university or Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
UWPD is currently investigating the incident, according to UWPD Executive Director of Communications Marc Lovicott.
“We take reports like that very seriously and the actions described have no place on our campus — or anywhere, for that matter. We are currently investigating and working to identify the suspect,” Lovicott said in an email to the Cardinal.
In a video obtained by the Cardinal, an individual appears to admit to hailing Hitler.
“I’m going to admit [I hailed Hitler], I did this and also for the record that’s why I’m going to leave,” the person said in the video.
The Cardinal observed UWPD escorting this individual away.
The man in the video approached a group of UW-Madison students who attend Hillel and Maggie Shapiro, the Hillel assistant director, and started discussing cigarette butts and the occupation of Gaza, according to Justin Kay, a UW-Madison student and Hillel attendee.
“When asked to leave, he then stepped back and put his hand in the air doing the Nazi salute. The Hillel assistant director immediately told the police who were right behind who claimed they did not see the salute and they did nothing about it,” Kay said.
The students later reported this incident to UWPD officers on Library Mall.
Noe Goldhaber is the college news editor and former copy chief for The Daily Cardinal. She is a Statistics and Journalism major and has specialized on a wide range of campus topics including protests, campus labor, student housing, free speech and campus administration. She has done data analysis and visualization for the Cardinal on a number of stories. Follow her on Twitter at @noegoldhaber.
