Tuesday, November 6th, 2007...11:27 am
Jewish student drew swastikas on her own door
By most accounts, Sarah Marshak is a better Jew than me.
The 18-year-old George Washington University freshman has visited concentration camps in Poland through March of the Living International. She has observed Yom HaZikaron, Israel Memorial Day, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, while visiting Israel.
Sarah also belongs to a group on Facebook called simply “Israel”, which boasts more than 138,000 members to discuss current events and activities affecting Jews and the Chosen People’s motherland.
Yes, Sarah Marshak is probably a better Jew than me.
Except I never drew swastikas on my own door for attention.
Marshak is the person who first reported that someone had drawn the irregular icosagon on her dry erase board that hangs on her dorm door a few weeks ago. In an with the school newspaper GW Hatchet, for which she also works as a reporter, she claimed she only drew the final three of six swastikas in an effort to highlight the school administration’s “inaction”.
“I wasn’t looking to create this, sort of, insanity,” Marshak said in a phone interview with the Hatchet. “I wasn’t looking to become a media darling. I was just looking for acknowledgment from University that someone drew a swastika on the door.”
Upon hearing this story, most people (I imagine) might shake their heads and say, “What was she thinking?”
My first thought, though, was “Munchausen Syndrome”, or at least some form of the illness. Much like Lindsay Lohan constantly hurting herself or that mom in The Sixth Sense who purposely made her daughter sick, this case of a Jewish student drawing swastikas on her OWN DOOR has to be some form of sick attention-getting behavior.
Swastika drawings and other forms of racist or anti-Semitic messages are nothing new to college campuses. Earlier this year, at my own alma mater, students were subjected to signs depicting the Star of David dripping with blood and equating Israeli leaders with Nazis.
And when I was a senior there many years ago, I covered a story for my school newspaper of a Latino man who e-mailed a racist tirade to 59 Asian-American students and teachers blaming them for some perceived inequity.
In Sarah’s case, whether or not she was responsible for the original drawings is irrelevant. As a Jew, she must have realized the backlash she would receive if she were ever discovered (which she was after being caught on a camera set up outside her door by University Police).
And even if she had never been found out, she would have to live with the knowledge that she drew swastikas on her own door for attention, well-meaning or not.
Sarah has 1,283 friends on Facebook, many of them Jewish. I hope one of them acts like one.
UPDATE: GW Hatchet on the fallout in the blogosphere.
31 Comments
November 6th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Wow! I’d heard someone was doing that but I didn’t know if it was true or not. The fact that she was doing it makes it that much worse.
I agree. And she loses all credibility with her argument that she didn’t draw the first ones.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
As a fellow Jew, you would think that I feel compelled to really dive into this one. So here it goes…
they had email when you were in college?!?!?!?!
Barely. We all had assigned school e-mails but they were on black, DOS-like screens that no one used anyway.
We also didn’t have cell phones but rather used something called a “pager”.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
I think when someone says “I wasn’t looking to become a media darling”, that is exactly what they were trying to do… Hope this was worth it for her.
I think she misunderstood the term since it doesn’t mean what she implied it to mean. Still, yeah, I hope she can live with herself, which I’m sure she will once she’s expelled.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
As another fellow Jew, I have to say that she obviously isn’t the “gun-toting” Jew she thinks herself to be. Lots of self-evaluation needs to happen on her end.
I imagine her self-evaluation will be a life-long endeavor.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
That’s enormously shitty of her and is a slap in the face not only to everyone who suffered in World War II but to everyone who has suffered since from that symbol of hatred and intolerance.
What a shame, Sarah. At a private school where Jewish holidays are observed, you honestly thought you wouldn’t be served by the administration? I’m embarrased by you and for you.
Well said, Sisco. That’s exactly what she’s done, too.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Funny, isn’t it? The very “inaction” she was purported to have been looking to highlight was proven not to exist by the fact that she was caught by cameras put in place by the university.
Exactly. Careful what you wish for while defacing your dry-erase boards with Nazi symbols.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
In other, less depressing news, way to get a shout out in the WaPo on Sunday.
You social slut, you.
Thanks man.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
This is just absurd. This girl should be kicked the hell out of school for her actions.
Believe me, she will.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I don’t even know what to say on this one…. that’s a first.
Wait I got it… I was going to do the same thing to get out of work but then I just called in sick.
One thing I forgot to add was what a shitty rendering of a swastika she made. She’s definitely not an Art major.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
“She will face student judicial action and could face federal and District charges.”
I think it may be a lot worse than just getting kicked out of schöol.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I say throw the Jew down the well…
November 6th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
i guess…that the admins “inaction” bit her square on the ass..
xoxo
November 6th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
As a Jewish kid on GW’s campus, I’ve been watching the drama over the last few weeks (including the Islamo-fascism “satirical” posters).
I’m impressed that GW jumps to be a community, outraged at the slander against any groups of people…but how many times do we need to be manipulated until we just stop listening?
I’m ashamed of girls like Sarah Marshak. I’m baffled by what she did and how she managed to convince herself that this was a good idea. A freshman in college and she just screwed up her life for good, way to go Marshak…way to go.
It’s great to hear from a GW student, thanks for your input. What do you mean by “manipulated”, though?
November 6th, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Once when I was mad at my parents I took a present they got me and threw it away in their bathroom trash so they would feel like they were jerks.
I was 3, however.
This girl, apparently, is 18 going on 3. I’ll stake a dime on a 10-to-1 bet that she’s from either Long Island or Westchester County.
Tri-state Jews are wack like that.
GO PATS.
Pay up. She’s from Florida.
November 6th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
UPDATE:
Looks like she’s deleted her Facebook account.
November 6th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
That means her parents were from New York. Either way, I owe you a dime. Jerk.
I’ll take the dime in the form of a Movember donation.
November 6th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
I’ve been really surprised by the recent goings-on over in FoBo, especially as a GW alumnus — I never saw this kind of redneck behavior when I was there. It’s just not the kind of close-mindedness you’d expect in (a) a large metropolitan area, (b) a private school or (c) an especially diverse school with a huge international and multi-ethnic population. Those are the elements that attracted me; I kind of figured everyone else wanted to get out of their hick small-town lives too, but I guess not.
As far as the girl who did it, well, what an embarrassment she is. You don’t throw around symbols like that, period, but you definitely don’t do it to frame some imaginary person because you don’t think there’s justice. You petition or call the media or daddy or something, but you don’t draw hate-symbols.
It’s like f*cking for virginity. DUH!
You know her daddy could have helped in this regard.
November 6th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
I get the whole outrage over it, believe me, but how is it exactly that she’s facing expulsion and federal or District charges?
The only thing that I can come up with is wasting the time, money, and resources of the school and the FBI.
In other news - was the FBI necessary for a case like this? Discuss.
November 6th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
It reminds me of a certain planting of a glove at a crime scene… The evidence was there, don’t try to “enhance” it! AAAARGH!
The thing that shits me the most about the whole situation is that all the bigoted David Irving’s of the world are going to have a field day (week, year, decade) about it…
November 6th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Must be related to Laurie Recht
November 6th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
I went to GW 2 years ago and had to leave because doctors thought I had cancer. I still go back to visit and keep up with the news, and when I heard this story from a friend I knew it sounded fishy. She’s part of this little cult of fake Jews from Coral Springs, Florida. I know because I grew up with in that city with people who are a little older than her, but still friends with her. She is pathetic and hungry for attention. I believe she scribbled the other swastikas on campus, or at least had a part in doing so.
I hope she goes to jail, but I do take comfort in knowing that this bimbo has pretty much ruined her life. Getting kicked out of GW will haunt her for life.
November 6th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
Wow. This is just so shocking I’m speechless.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:53 pm
Sarah had just graduated from the high school which I still attend. I am in complete shock over the whole situation. I have no idea of what attention she was going to recieve other than horrible attention. Did she honestly think she would be praised for drawing swastikas on her door? Many students at my school are talking about her and the whole situation. And I must admit I did not expect much from her, only because she was so caught up in being so dramatic and being ’so outspoken’ it would only come back to bite her dumbass.
Sucks for her.
November 7th, 2007 at 2:18 am
how is comparing Israel’s leaders to Nazis racist or anti-Semitic?
November 7th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Why is that virtually all of these cases on modern college campuses turn out to be hoaxes by the person claiming the discrimination? The idea that a student at GW would be so anti-semitic to draw a swastika on a Jewish student’s door is downright absurd. GW is probably the most Jewish school in the US after Yeshiva, Brandeis, Michigan, and Penn. If you are a Neo-Nazi, might be better off at a different school. The Columbia professor noose? No proof, but I’m bet she placed it there. Daisy Lundy? Oh come, everyone — everyone — knows she made the whole thing up. On the eve of the election, I mean, come on. Like there are skinheads prowling UVa beating up black kids. If there is anywhere where outright racism does not exist today, it is on major college campuses and universities. Not to say there still isn’t huge racial issues, but like I said, 99% of the time when this crap happens, it the person claiming to be a victim who is just starving for attention (or in the case of Daisy Lundy, votes).
November 7th, 2007 at 7:45 am
From the GWHatchet:
[Robert Fishman, the director of Hillel, said during conversations, Marshak always came across as rational.
“This is a definite cry for help on her part,” Fishman said in a phone interview Monday. “I can’t imagine why anyone would do anything like this. I feel very sad for her. At the same time I am upset that she had to resort to the actions she took.”]
That will certainly encourage more of this hateful behavior. Maybe the Muslims will be forced to resorting to Koran desecration so that the community can speculate as to whether Jews or Christians (or both!) should be held responsible. Or to raise awareness… whatever.
Her actions are an enhanced hate crime. I would think that Hillel would see the historical ugliness and danger of such deliberate false villification of the “other”.
November 7th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Your story (and reaction) reminds me of a compelling opinion piece I recently read in the Stars & Stripes.
In it, I learned that the majority of “noose sightings” in recent years were (unexpectedly, of course) later determined to be the actions of blacks themselves.
Frankly, I had no idea. Evidently, (as posited by the editorial), few do… as the noose makes the news, but the ant-climactic i.d. of the perp doesn’t.
Shockingly, the opinion piece was authored by the she-devil herself, Anne Coulter (not one to miss the chance to say something outrageous, she.)
After realizing this, though, I had to admit: we have something to learn from every side of the story. Even the crazy pen-wielders sometimes have a point.
But what the hell was Sarah’s?
November 7th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
i happen to know this girl personally and let me just say that there is no one more “proud” to be Jewish. honestly, it all started after she motl’d with the other fla jews (none of whom really enjoyed her company). she feeds off of drama and my friends down here in sofla… well, we all think she’s responsible for every single one.
and hey, fbi guys, she was bitter toward columbia after receiving a crappy finaid package (and was deferred upon applying ed) and was also in nyc this past weekend prior to being caught at gw… coincidence? you decide…
i hope her perpetually wet scrunched hair holds up in prison. wow.
November 7th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I too know Sarah Marshak and am sad to see what has happened to what surely would have been an otherwise bright future.
Marshak always seemed to be an intellectual and responsible person for the few years I’ve known her, and knowing her as I do, I honestly cannot fathom what state of mind she had to have been in to think these actions were in any way justifiable.
Here’s hoping that she atones for what she’s done and is able to start over some distant time from now.
November 8th, 2007 at 1:19 am
My children went to North Broward Preparatory School (a private school) in Coconut Creek, Florida, from which Sarah Marshak graduated this year. There is a large Jewish student body there, which was overwhelming at times as it was so “in your face” if you weren’t part of that ‘community’. Sarah was definitely a total drama queen there, loving lots of attention.
What is interesting is that Sarah’s mother is the Librarian there, and was known for using her daughter as a role model when trying to discipline other students.
It’s a real shame that Sarah has wasted so much police time (ie taxpayers’ money), and university time, just to seek attention for herself. She wanted everyone to say “poor Sarah” and feel sorry for her being the “victim” of such a hate campaign. Her behavior is that of a small kid when he or she has to misbehave to get more attention … and their mindset is that any attention (for good or bad behavior) is better than no attention at all. Sarah obviously needs a lot of therapy - and some lessons on how to live in harmony with other people of differing beliefs.
If she had to take a lie detector test, I bet it would show that she had a hand in all of the markings on her door (not just 3 of them).
November 8th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
As a Jewish GW student, I think that I speak for all of us saying that we too are apalled by her actions. There is nothing that points more towards serious issues when someone directs a hate crime towards herself. Honestly though, I’m not so surprised that it was her. Before she took down her facebook, one of her activities was “being an anti-semitism target.”
She deserves everything that comes to her.
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