Pitt

Two Jewish Pitt Students Walking to Shabbat Were Beaten With a Glass Bottle While Their Star of David Was Ripped Off

Friday, August 30, 2024PAaggravated assaulttimely warninghigh confidence

Confirmed Threat

On the evening of August 30, 2024 — the first Shabbat of the academic year — University of Pittsburgh students Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon were attacked while walking to the campus Hillel building in yarmulkes. A 52-year-old man wearing a keffiyeh struck both with a large glass bottle and ripped off Goodwin's Star of David necklace. Pitt Police arrested Jarrett Buba shortly after the attack and the university issued a campus-wide notice condemning antisemitism.

Alerts: 1
Response: —
Killed: 0
Injured: 2

Institution

University of Pittsburgh

Public R1 · PA

~33,000 studentsEmergency Notification Service (ENS)

Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

FOLLOW-UPEmailAugust 31, 2024 EDT, after Pittsburgh Police filed charges

Verified verbatimUniversity of Pittsburgh Times news article quoting the official Pitt community message issued August 31, 20241012 chars

While there is not believed to be any ongoing threat to the public stemming from this incident, we recognize that incidents like these are unsettling to our Pitt community. To be clear: Neither acts of violence nor antisemitism will be tolerated. Upon learning about this incident, Pitt leadership contacted Hillel University Center to offer support to our students and also connected with our partners at the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh. We are grateful to our Pitt Police officers for their swift action, and our Student Affairs team for their ongoing student support. The University is providing resources to Pitt Police to ensure additional security officers are available as escorts to students, faculty and staff heading to Friday night services or other events. Local and federal partners are supporting Pitt Police in this ongoing investigation. The University Counseling Center is available to any student needing support, and Life Solutions is available to all faculty and staff members.

Verbatim quoted text from the University of Pittsburgh community message published August 31, 2024

The phrase 'Neither acts of violence nor antisemitism will be tolerated' was the strongest condemnation in any U.S. campus message of the period

Connecting with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh referenced post-Tree-of-Life institutional partnerships

Offering campus police escorts ahead of the High Holy Days was an unusual proactive operational adjustment

Pitt's University Police is one of the largest sworn campus police forces in Pennsylvania, with roughly 70 officers — capacity that enabled the immediate on-scene arrest

Context

Background

The University of Pittsburgh, a public R1 research university in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has approximately 33,000 students. The campus sits adjacent to Squirrel Hill — site of the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting, the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history — and its Jewish student community is one of the largest in the country. On the evening of August 30, 2024, the first Friday of the academic year, Pitt students Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon were walking in yarmulkes to the first Shabbat service of the school year at Pitt Hillel. Approached from behind by Jarrett Buba, 52, a Pittsburgh resident wearing a keffiyeh, they were struck with a large glass bottle. Goodwin suffered cuts on his neck and had his Star of David necklace ripped off; Gordon suffered a concussion. Pitt Police arrested Buba at the scene and filed two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering, and harassment, plus resisting arrest. Although the FBI's Pittsburgh office investigated the attack as a possible hate crime, the Allegheny County District Attorney did not file ethnic-intimidation charges under Pennsylvania's hate-crime statute (18 Pa.C.S. § 2710). The university issued a same-evening Public Safety Notice condemning antisemitism and offered campus police escorts to Jewish students for the upcoming High Holy Days. The case was one of at least 28 documented assaults on Jewish college students or bystanders during the 2023-24 academic year tracked by the ADL. For Pitt — six years after Tree of Life — the response demonstrated how the institution and Pittsburgh PD had developed muscle memory for antisemitic-violence response.

Analysis

Key Findings

Pitt Police arrested suspect Jarrett Buba at the scene — an unusually fast resolution for a campus assault

The university issued a same-evening Public Safety Notice that explicitly condemned antisemitism — using stronger language than many peer institutions had used in similar incidents

Pitt offered campus police escorts to Jewish students for the upcoming High Holy Days, an unusual proactive operational adjustment

Despite community calls for a hate-crime charge under Pennsylvania's 'ethnic intimidation' statute (18 Pa.C.S. § 2710), the Allegheny County District Attorney did not file hate-crime charges after consulting with the FBI; charges were limited to aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering, harassment, and resisting arrest

The attack came six years after the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in adjacent Squirrel Hill — Pittsburgh's institutional and law-enforcement muscle memory for antisemitic-violence response was visible in the immediate response

The case was part of a documented surge in campus antisemitic incidents during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years

Outcome

Goodwin suffered cuts on his neck; Gordon suffered a concussion after being struck on the right cheek. Both received medical treatment. Pitt Police arrested Jarrett Buba, 52, of Pittsburgh, who was unaffiliated with the university. He was charged with two counts each of aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and harassment, plus one count of resisting arrest; he was later charged in a separate August 29, 2024 attack on a Carnegie Mellon student. Although the FBI investigated the attack as a possible hate crime, the FBI consulted with the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office, which did not file hate-crime charges (Pennsylvania's 'ethnic intimidation' statute under 18 Pa.C.S. § 2710 was not invoked). Pitt offered campus police escorts to Jewish students for the upcoming High Holy Days.

Provenance

Alert Sequence

Background

Key Findings

Sources

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