Thursday evening a discriminatory post was shared on the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Snapchat story, leading to online calls for action by an antisemitic watchdog group called StopAntisemitism.
The organization refers to itself as “a grassroots watchdog organization dedicated to exposing groups and individuals that espouse incitement towards the Jewish people and State and engage in antisemitic behaviors.”
StopAntisemitism shared the original discriminatory Snapchat post on other social media platforms around 10 p.m. Thursday evening. The organization’s reposting decried the original Snapchat post as “vile antisemitism and blatant racism. The student behind it should face serious discipline, including possible expulsion.” StopAntisemitism tagged SCAD’s social media account asking if the university would “tolerate this if it targeted any other group on campus?”
StopAntisemitism could not be immediately reached Friday evening for comment on how the incident was first reported to the organization or what steps it might have taken prior to posting a screenshot of the discriminatory Snapchat post and tagging SCAD.
SCAD issued the following official statement Friday after an initial investigation:
“Since Savannah College of Art and Design was founded, the university has been committed to fostering a positive and inclusive learning environment dedicated to the well-being of all students. Under the university’s nondiscrimination policy SCAD does not allow any form of discrimination on the basis of age, race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national or ethnic origin, disability, or veteran status. 
On the evening of Thursday, April 24, university leadership became aware of a social media post that violates these nondiscrimination policies and immediately launched an investigation. Based on this initial investigation, the individual who created the social media post is not a currently enrolled student at SCAD. There is also no evidence that an event as described in the post took place on SCAD property and no discriminatory signage was found anywhere on campus. 
The investigation is ongoing to confirm that no current member of the SCAD community was involved in the creation of the social media post or related activities. SCAD leadership is reaching out to students, faculty, and staff who have been affected by the social media post to offer support and resources.”
SCAD officials did not immediately respond to inquiries into whether the individual who made the discriminatory post had formerly been enrolled at the university.
The incident occurred just two days before SCAD’s 44th annual Sidewalk Arts Festival on April 26.
Joseph Schwartzburt is the education and workforce development reporter for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at JSchwartzburt@gannett.com andJoeInTheKnow_SMN on Instagram.

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