A Jewish student at a well-regarded New Jersey college has accused his peers of harassing him for his conservative and pro-Israel views.
Aaron Marcus attends Rutgers University and for the last year has written a regular column for its independent student publication The Daily Targum, with particular focus on his religious and political affiliations.
He has complained that his opinions have left him "frequently singled out by students with verbal and physical threats". Last week an article defending Hitler appeared under his picture by-line in another student newspaper, the Medium. The April 4 piece was headlined "What about the good things Hitler did?"
Alongside the piece, which included jokes about how Hitler should be thanked for his contribution to cars and the establishment of a Jewish state, the writers included a fake biography of Mr Marcus.
It read: "He is very excited to be graduating this semester and plans to grow up to be very rich, cause a bunch of problems, and then blame poor people for all of them."
Mr Marcus, whose grandparents lost relatives to the Nazis, labelled the stunt "horrific" and tweeted his anger about the "antisemitic diatribe".
He told the Daily Targum: "It's one thing to write a mock article, and the Medium is known for being offensive and being a satirical newspaper. But it's another thing to take my name, the picture, and title of my column and attribute something so horrific to me."
"No student should be subject to such a hurtful piece," said Rutgers president Richard McCormick. "Rutgers University is investigating the incident as a bias incident under the university's anti-bias policies.
Mr McCormick said that while student media enjoyed broad protection at the federal court level, the piece was "extremely offensive and repugnant".
"No individual student should be subject to such a vicious, provocative, and hurtful piece. The Medium's article was particularly despicable in light of Mr Marcus' Jewish faith."
