An Atlanta private school suspended and expelled students for playing a “Jews vs. Nazis”-themed beer pong game off-campus.
The Lovett School suspended five participating students and expelled the student who organized and took a photo of the game, according to Channel 2 Action News.
The photo of the “Jews vs. Nazis” beer pong game depicted students around a table with cups arranged in Star of David and swastika formations.
Atlanta private school student expelled for Jews vs Nazis beer pong https://t.co/vYdEwfpTZe pic.twitter.com/S5AelchgCJ
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) August 24, 2017
“We’ve seen a general uptick in anti-Semitism in general in the past year-and-a-half or so,” said Alison Goodman, a regional director for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “Anti-Semitic discourse is unfortunately becoming a little bit too normative.”
“They’re seeing major events of hatred in the public and so they’re thinking that hate is okay,” Goodman added.
“The fact that someone could even conceive of such a game, and then play it and think it’s funny is beyond words,” said Peter Berg, a local rabbi who informed the school of the game after members of his congregation showed him the photo. “We as a country have to get our hands and wrap our hands around the problem of hate speech, in general.”
The ADL reports an 86 percent spike in anti-Semitism for the first quarter of 2017.
“Character education is at the heart of all we do at Lovett,” a school spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News, “and we deeply appreciate the individuals and organizations across our community who are helping us to continue to learn and grow from this very troubling incident.”
“Two weeks ago, The Lovett School was made aware that several students, and students from other schools, were involved this summer in an off-campus incident with anti-Semitic overtones and other violations of Lovett’s character pledge and student handbook,” Billy Peebles, Lovett’s headmaster, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “The school pursued an immediate investigation, and significant responses — including disciplinary action and counseling — have been undertaken.”
Peebles did not answer whether the off-campus location of the game influenced the school’s decision to punish the involved students.
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