4 Temple students accused of anti-semitic attack

Philadelphia cops have issued arrest warrants for four Temple University students, who are accused of a hate crime on the North Philadelphia campus, police said.

The four are alleged to have punched a non-Temple student outside the former house of Alpha Epsilon Pi, an international Jewish fraternity, on Feb. 15th, breaking his nose and fracturing his right eyesocket, according to a Fox 29 news report.

The four then yelled out to the young man and his friend, "We hate Jews! We hate Jews!," the Fox 29 report said, quoting Temple police.

Police expect the district attorney's office to sign the warrants today, said police spokeswoman Christine O'Brien.

The four students have been suspended from Temple pending the outcome of a University Disciplinary Committee meeting, said Temple president Ann Weaver Hart in a campuswide memo sent Friday afternoon. The case was investigated by the committee and by Temple University Campus Safety Services, she said.

Campus police and Philadelphia cops "are actively pursuing criminal charges" through the D.A.'s office, she said.

"I am very sad to be sending you this message," Hart wrote. The students confronted the two males, who had emerged from a pizza shop near the fraternity house on Broad Street near Norris, and stood outside the former Jewish fraternity, according to the TV reports.

The alleged bullies came "completely out of nowhere. Completely unprovoked," one of the victims told Fox 29. "It's scary." He did not want to be identified.

The four asked if the pair belonged to the Alpha Epsilon Pi. One answered no, according to NBC 10. The person with him was unharmed.

"There was some anti-Semitic slurs directed at us," the victim said.

The school is "taking this situation very seriously and will be developing programs for students and the broader university community to address issues of tolerance and civility on our campuses," Hart wrote.

"Hate crimes will not be tolerated by Temple University," she wrote. *