When Pigs Fly: Syracuse Students Face Charges in Pork Attack

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Two Syracuse University students are facing hate crime charges after authorities say one of them threw a bag of pork into a Jewish fraternity house during a Rosh Hashanah celebration.

The incident happened around 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, where members had gathered to mark the Jewish New Year, according to Allen Groves, the university’s chief student experience officer.

University police said one of the men entered the house and hurled a clear plastic bag of pork against an interior wall, splattering the contents across the wall and floor. He then fled and got into a vehicle driven by the second student. Both 18-year-olds were later arrested and charged with burglary as a hate crime and criminal nuisance.

Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said the timing and location made the incident more than a prank. “This incident is not a foolish college prank and will not be treated as such,” he said. “It will be treated for what it is: a crime directed against a group of Jewish students enjoying a celebratory dinner and seemingly secure in their residence.”

Court papers noted that under Jewish dietary law, pork is forbidden to eat or touch. “The defendants’ actions did thereby create a hazardous condition and engender reasonable fear among the occupants that they were subject to a religiously motivated attack,” police wrote in filings cited by Syracuse.com.

The students, identified as Samuel Patten and Kyle Anderson, remained in jail Wednesday with bail set at $1,500.

Groves said the students have also been referred to the university’s Office of Community Standards for potential disciplinary action. In a statement, he called the incident “abhorrent, shocking to the conscience and violat[ing] our core value of being a place that is truly welcoming to all. It will not be tolerated at Syracuse University.”

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