San José State University police have arrested a suspect in connection with a months-long string of antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and racist graffiti incidents across the campus, the university announced last week. The arrest followed an investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.

The suspect, who has been banned from campus, faces charges including felony vandalism, felony publishing threats, and potential hate crime enhancements, the university said in a statement posted to its dedicated graffiti response page.

The graffiti targeted Jewish, Muslim, Asian, and Black members of the campus community, university officials said. SJSU President Cynthia Teniente-Matson said in a campus message on Thursday that the incidents had caused “real harm” across the university and that Jewish and Muslim students, faculty, and staff were experiencing the threats most intensely.

“The acts have targeted individuals and communities we proudly welcome to SJSU, and I hope you all join me in condemning hate and violence while standing in solidarity with our community,” Teniente-Matson said in the statement, posted to the SJSU NewsCenter.

According to a chronology maintained on the university’s official response page, the first incidents surfaced in late October and early November 2025, when racist graffiti, including swastikas and threats of mass shootings, was discovered in a campus housing facility and an academic building.

The threats escalated on March 4, when graffiti was scrawled in a bathroom stall in MacQuarrie Hall warning of a terrorist attack on March 11, according to correspondence between the California State University Chancellor’s Office and Cassidy. According to Cassidy’s office, the messages included “SJSU, Sorry, But for Allah 3/11 Will Be 9/11” alongside “Kill All Jews,” with other writings stating a “goal” of “five Jews min[imum]” and a vow to “make [Osama Bin Laden] proud.”

SJSU Senior Director of Strategic Communications Michelle Smith McDonald told KTVU at the time that the graffiti specifically threatened “the Jewish community” and warned of violence “of a non-specific nature” on March 11. The university bolstered police patrols and began coordinating with outside law enforcement in response, according to the SJSU Police Department.

Additional threatening graffiti was discovered in MacQuarrie Hall bathrooms on March 24, April 3, and April 8, the SJSUPD said. On April 28, two more messages were found at the Student Union and the Art Building threatening an attack on May 4, according to the department.

The CSU Chancellor’s correspondence with Cassidy, as cited by his office, detailed the November bathroom graffiti in MacQuarrie Hall, which included antisemitic, anti-Asian, and anti-Muslim language and prompted the initial criminal investigation and the deployment of additional foot patrols.

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