YU Security and NYPD Announce New Measures in Response to Threats of Antisemitism

Yeshiva University’s security department announced extra security measures on YU’s undergraduate and graduate campuses, with stepped up New York Police Department (NYPD) patrols, following Hamas’s terrorist attack on Israel Oct. 7. Extra security measures were also taken Friday in response to Hamas’ call for a worldwide “Day of Jihad.” 

All campuses received increased security officer coverage and NYPD patrols, including officers stationed on campus, according to emails from the security department last week. Students were also advised to carry their ID cards, travel in groups and report any suspicious activity. 

Some of the officers were from the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Response Command resources and Critical Response Group, which were also on random deployments to “local synagogues and other sensitive areas,” including YU.

“The NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Bureau deploys a wide array of resources to protect the city based on events unfolding here and around the world,” an NYPD spokesman told The Commentator. “This includes high-visibility resources like the Critical Response Command and Counterterrorism officers, as well as our Intelligence Division personnel. Given the situation unfolding in Israel, we have surged resources to sensitive locations out of an abundance of caution and to ensure that all New Yorkers stay safe.”

Neither the security department nor Security Supervisor Jose Morales replied to The Commentator’s multiple requests for comment.

The security department also recommended in multiple emails Thursday that students avoid “demonstrations, protests and other large non-YU affiliated gatherings.” An email from Dean Karen Bacon sent Thursday morning also urged students not to attend “possibly violent”  demonstrations on campuses of other universities. This came after several students reportedly considered attending a pro Israel counter protest taking place at Columbia University. The Columbia administration later decided to bar students from other universities from attending protests on campus.

Although no incidents were reported Friday, security did send out an email notifying students that a student had had her necklace stolen while entering the Benjamin Residential Building, which houses a Cardozo dorm on Lexington Avenue Thursday. The perpetrator fled the scene on a bicycle. The Commentator independently confirmed that the victim was a Cardozo graduate student. As of publishing, it is unclear whether the incident was motivated by antisemitism.

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Photo Caption: The YU security department and NYPD announced new measures being taken to protect against threats of antisemitism following the current war in Israel.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Levin