As the news about President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval’s condemnation of three antisemitic vandalism reports on campus sinks in, the public is still without some key details.

Since Monday, some students have had time to consider their own perceptions of the situation. 

Students like Lisamarie Ortiz are in the midst of finals, but the fear from the recent vandalism reports stays in the back of their minds, making it difficult to focus.  

“The stress of exams mixed with the fear and anxiety from the hate crime is overwhelming, making it tough to focus and perform to my best ability,” Ortiz said. 

Fresno State Public Information Officer Lisa Bell responded to a few Collegian questions via email Thursday morning. 

The questions asked:

• Confirmation of The Collegian’s anonymous source’s claim.
• A timeline of the reports.

More details on the incidents and why the university chose to release the email at this particular time, considering the email closely follows the deadly terrorist attack in Australia on the first day of Hanukkah. 

Bell provided a statement on behalf of the university:

“The university is addressing three reports involving antisemitic vandalism and hate-based expression that were reported over the past few weeks. Because these matters are under active review, we are limiting additional details to protect the integrity of the investigation.

While the university does not typically issue campuswide communications for individually reported concerns, these reports were reviewed collectively through our Multi-Disciplinary Team process and determined to be a cluster of related incidents, rather than isolated reports. Following that review, and in consultation with members of the Jewish Advisory Council, the university determined that a campuswide message was appropriate to ensure awareness, transparency and community support.

In parallel, the Office of Compliance and Civil Rights (OCCR) is conducting outreach and coordinating supportive measures. Students, faculty or staff who are impacted are encouraged to contact OCCR so that the university can provide appropriate support,” the statement read.

The Collegian followed up with more inquiries:

• Once again requesting clarification on the anonymous source’s claims.
• A timeline on when more details will be available.
• What exactly the “investigation” entails.

If the campus-wide email was provoked by the attack in Australia.

Bell provided another statement:

“Because these matters remain under active investigation, we’re not able to share additional details beyond what has already been communicated. 

The campuswide message followed a Multi-Disciplinary Team review that determined the reports should be addressed collectively for awareness and transparency, rather than in response to any single external event.

We’re not able to confirm or comment on claims attributed to anonymous sources,” the statement read.

From the two statements, a few new details have been revealed: the reports are recent and related to one another, and the initial campus-wide email was not provoked by the attack in Australia.

The Collegian is still awaiting access to public records.

Students reflected more on what this means for them as key components of the Fresno State community.

Ortiz said that Fresno State is a haven for her, and she feels like it is under threat.

“It’s like my safe space where I go and study, do activities on campus has been violated,” Ortiz said. 

When she first heard of the vandalism, she said she was in shock, especially considering how calm of a campus Fresno State is. 

“It always seems so quiet and peaceful, like everybody knows each other, they hang out, make study groups, but to have something like out of nowhere pop up about [a] hate crime is really shocking,” Ortiz said. 

Another student, Victoria Abila, a kinesiology exercise science major, expressed that no matter what the circumstances are, hate speech is unacceptable. 

“I have personally never seen hate speech here, but I think altogether it doesn’t matter what hate speech was written, what matters is that it was done,” Abila said.

The Collegian posted a question poll on Instagram asking students about their thoughts on the situation as well as how the university is handling it. 

“I don’t want to take finals anymore on a campus if people are doing hate speech,” Ortiz said. 

Another criticized the university’s lack of initiative.

“It shouldn’t have taken a professor grilling admin for them to actually do something about it,” the response read. 

Another user asked, “Why the secrecy, Fresno State?”

This is a developing story, and The Collegian will continue to update as needed. 

Isaac Marquez contributed to the reporting of this story.