REPORT: Jewish student called anti-Semitic slurs on campus could not get meeting to discuss incident

Natalie Shclover was a Jewish student at the University of Connecticut who tried to meet with Radenka Maric, the university’s interim president, to discuss anti-Semitism on campus this past semester.

Campus Reform has learned that despite being the target of anti-Semitism, Shclover could not get a meeting before her May 2 graduation.

Natalie Shclover was a Jewish student at the University of Connecticut (UConn) who tried to meet with Radenka Maric, the university’s interim president, to discuss anti-Semitism on campus this past semester. 

Campus Reform has learned that despite being the target of anti-Semitism, Shclover could not get a meeting before her May 2 graduation.

Earlier this spring, Shclover became a target of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic slurs online after tearing down some flyers that had been hung around her campus in February, according to Jewish News Syndicate.

 The flyers accused Israel of being an apartheid state. 

Shclover tore down a few flyers covering Hillel or Chabad signage. 

As Shclover was removing more fliers with her Muslim boyfriend, Zacharia El-Tayyeb, she was reportedly called slurs by other students.

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Jewish News Syndicate reports that Shclover was removed from UConn’s all-female acapella group, the UConn Chordials, in an unfair manner, with no opportunity to defend herself. 

On March 19th, Shclover posted a statement on her Instagram.

 “As a student on this campus, I have always tried to do the same- striving to understand classmates with opinions that are different from my own and make room for their experiences,” the post read. 

Shclover also released an open letter to the UConn community, explaining her side of the story, and specifying the numerous slurs that she had been called.

“The situation escalated, and the students began a verbal attack on Zach and me, calling me a ‘Jew,’ a ‘f*cking b*tch,’ a ‘white supremacist’ and a ‘f*cking Zionist,’” Shclover stated in the letter.

StandWithUs, an “international and non-partisan Israel education organization,” wrote a letter to the university on behalf of Shclover requesting a meeting between the student and Maric. 

”In light of Natalie’s upcoming matriculation from the university, we hope that such a meeting will be possible on or before May 2, 2022,” the letter reads. 

[RELATED: Department of Education investigates alleged anti-Semitism in ‘class lectures and course materials’]

StandWithUs told Campus Reform that as of May 9, it was not aware of any meeting between Shclover and Maric. 

“UConn abhors all forms of bias, bigotry, and discrimination, certainly including antisemitism,” university spokesperson Stephanie Reitz told Campus Reform. 

“Natalie’s expression of her Zionism was the primary reason she was attacked,” Carly Gammill, director of the StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism, told Campus Reform. 

Campus Reform reached out to Natalie Shclover; this article will be updated accordingly. 

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