ANN ARBOR, MI — A billboard in Ann Arbor denouncing alleged antisemitism at the University of Michigan has been vandalized.
The billboard, which read “Being Jewish shouldn’t require campus security,” on Plymouth Road and Barton Drive was spraypainted in black paint with “Gaza,” according to Chris Page, Ann Arbor police spokesperson.
Page said officers responded to the defacement around 2:45 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28. The vandalism is under investigation and no suspects have yet been named.
“It’s what cowards do, they deface things instead of having conversations,” Archie Gottesman, 62, co-founder of JewsBelong, said. “Jewish Americans are being blamed for a war that’s going on thousands of miles away.”
Gottesman said “it’s becoming very scary” for Jews in the United States.
The defaced billboard has been replaced by a temporary placeholder and will be replaced with a new billboard in three to four days, according to Gottesman.
She said the new billboard will have the same message as the original one.
JewBelong, a national organization combating antisemitism through billboard campaigns, and Christian Broadcasting Network, a nonprofit ministry streaming Christian programming on television, erected four billboards in Ann Arbor on Aug. 18.
The billboards contain messages such as “Jewish students don’t need your pity. Just your spine.”
That message can be found at Main and Summit streets through Nov. 2 and Maple Street and Dexter Road through Oct. 12.
The message “Being Jewish shouldn’t require campus security” can be found at I-94 at Exit 183 through Oct. 12.
The two faith-based organizations partnered with Regent University in Virginia to construct the billboards, according to an Aug. 25 press release.
The billboards were built ahead of the Aug. 30 football game against the University of New Mexico.
University of Michigan Interim President Domenico Grasso expressed support for Jewish students, faculty and staff at an event earlier this month.
“We will always focus on finding solutions and challenging the status quo with the unwavering objective of improving the world around us,” Grasso said. “That includes ending antisemitism. We are proud of our long-standing efforts to combat antisemitism and provide a welcoming campus for Jewish students, faculty and staff.”
In a statement to students and colleagues sent in September 2024, then-UM President Santa Ono wrote students, regardless of race, sex, nationality or religion, deserve to feel safe and protected at the university.
“Antisemitism is in direct conflict with the university’s deeply held values of safety, respect and inclusion and has no place within our community,” Ono wrote.
The university is currently under federal investigation, along with 59 other higher education institutions, for Title IV violations related to antisemitic discrimination on campuses. President Donald Trump threatened UM and other schools with funding cuts if they do not take steps to “protect Jewish students on campus,” according to a March 10 announcement.
In June 2024, pro-Palestinian protesters targeted the law firm of UM Regent Jordan Acker in a vandalism attack, demanding UM divestment from Israel. Acker’s home was the target of another attack in Dec. 2024. Acker, who is Jewish, condemned the attacks as antisemitic.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, pro-Palestinian groups demanded the university divest from companies that support Israel. As of September 2025, more than 64,000 Palestinians have died in the war, launched in response to an October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, according to the Associated Press.
Anyone with information about the vandalism is asked to contact the Ann Arbor police at 734-794-6920 or by emailing tips@a2gov.org.
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