Ex-Dartmouth student faces felony charges for alleged role in menorah vandalism
The charges follow an investigation of the December 2020 incident.
The student has been banned from Dartmouth College grounds.
An ex-Dartmouth College student is facing class B felony charges for his alleged involvement in a December 2020 anti-Semitic act that included vandalizing a menorah.
Carlos Wilcox, a former member of the class of 2023 and editor of The Dartmouth Review, left the school in 2021, The Dartmouth reported last month. The Dartmouth also reported that Wilcox’s departure is protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.
Campus Reform reported on the crime after it occurred on December 15, 2020.
Two days after the incident, the university president’s office put out a letter confirming that “seven of the nine lights” were shot out with what “appeared to have been a pellet gun,” Campus Reform reported at the time.
The vandalism accumulated more than $1,500 in damages.
The charges against Wilcox post a maximum sentence of three-and-a-half to seven years in prison and up to a $2,000 fine. Wilcox waived arraignment and is currently free on a bail agreement that bars him from campus grounds.
While the vandalism has largely been condemned as an act of anti-Semitism, the investigation concluded that the case lacked sufficient evidence to label as a hate crime- which would warrant stronger punishments.
Anti-Semitism has been on the rise over the past year, specifically on college campuses across the nation. As covered by Campus Reform, a Heritage Foundation study reported that 244 anti-Semitic incidents were reported throughout the 2020-2021 school year. This calculated a 34.8% increase.
[RELATED: POLL: 50% of Jewish students feel they ‘need to hide their identity on campus]
Campus Reform covers anti-Semitism on college campuses. Students have labeled their experiences as scary, citing anti-Israel events and doxing as contributing factors to the hostile environment.
Anti-Semitic acts in the fall 2021 semester included, the desecration of the Star of David and the veto of a pro-Israel student organization by the Duke student government.
In 2019, President Donald Trump took a stand against anti-Semitic acts on college campuses when he signed an executive order that withheld federal funds from colleges and universities that fail to protect the school’s Jewish community from discrimination.
Campus Reform has contacted Dartmouth University and the Hanover Police for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
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