Sukkah destroyed by vandals at Kansas State University

A sukkah erected on the campus of Kansas State University was destroyed by vandals.

The sukkah, purchased by the campus Hillel and erected near the main dining hall on campus, was carried away from its place on Friday night and broken apart. The pieces were left around the car of organizer Glen Buickerood, a graduate student who works on diversity initiatives for the campus Housing and Dining department, The Manhattan, a Kansas Mercury newspaper, reported on Sunday.

Gregory Newmark, co-adviser for Hillel, and an assistant professor at K-State, said the fact that the sukkah, which was irreparable, has been staked down, as well as the fact that an informational poster about the Jewish holiday of Sukkot had been hung on the sukkah, made him believe the vandalism was an anti-Semitic act.

“This was meant to be a place where everyone was welcome, and someone just ripped it down,” Newmark told the newspaper.

In April, an anti-Semitic poster was hung up on the Kansas State University campus on Holocaust Remembrance Day.