8 | DECEMBER 19 • 2024 J
N
A
nti-Israel antagonists in the
early hours of Monday, Dec.
9, vandalized the Huntington
Woods home of University of Michigan
Regent Jordan Acker.
In offering a fully transparent
account of the event that included pho-
tographs of the damage, Acker wrote
on his Instagram site that the sound of
breaking glass woke his oldest of three
daughters at around 2 a.m. When she
ran into the bedroom where he and
his wife were sleeping to wake them,
he then ran downstairs to find the
windows of the front of his house were
shattered and his wife’s car was graffi-
tied.
The vandals threw mason jars filled
with urine into the Acker home to
break the windows.
His wife’s car was painted with the
words: “Divest” and “Free Palestine”
with an upside-down red triangle.
According to the Anti-Defamation
League, the inverted red triangle has
come to signify support for Hamas
and glorifies its use of violence against
Jews and Israelis.
“This is the third time that I — and
now my family — have been the target
of these Klan-like tactics,
” he wrote.
“We all need to call out this cowardly
act attacking my family and my home
for what it truly is — terrorism. And
like we always do in this great nation
when we’re confronted with terrorism
— I will not let fear win.
”
Acker’s home was attacked on May
15, when a masked protester came to
his home to deliver a list of demands
that included that the university divest
from companies involved with Israel’s
war in Gaza.
In June, vandals spray-painted
obscenities and anti-Israel graffiti
across the entrance to the Goodman
Acker law firm in Southfield where
Acker is a senior partner.
The Huntington Woods Department
of Public Safety also released a state-
ment that two individuals wearing
masks and hoods were caught on the
Ackers’ security camera fleeing the
scene. The department is urging res-
idents in the neighborhood to check
surveillance footage and report any
findings to the Huntington Woods
Public Safety Department at (248) 541-
1180.
FAMILY IS TERRORIZED
In an interview with the JN on the eve-
ning of the attack, Acker put it bluntly:
He and his family were terrorized. He
said this deeply disturbing behavior can
be attributed to the groupthink that has
taken over on the campus, unaddressed
mental illness, and the “naked antisem-
itism that is constantly pushed on peo-
ple through their social media feeds.
”
Acker also called out the silence of
the University of Michigan Faculty
Senate and the Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs
(SACUA) when it comes to antisemi-
tism. The body has released numerous
statements in support of pro-Palestin-
ian activism on campus and called on
the university to divest from financial
holdings in companies that invest in
Israel’s ongoing military campaign in
Gaza.
“SACUA makes statements about
Gaza, but fails to mention how this
semester, a Jewish professor (Marc
Dollinger) was shouted down and
asked to leave because he was a Zionist
as he gave a lecture on Black-Jewish
relations during the Civil Rights
Movement,
” Acker said. “They chose
not to make a statement about that or
the other times my home or my office
has been attacked. Those are inten-
tional choices. It is clear that a small
but loud group of faculty members
are encouraging the worst behaviors
of our students.
”
Acker added that he is “extremely
disappointed” with the U.S. Attorney’s
Office of Eastern Michigan for not
being able to uncover one lead on
these acts of vandalism against him
as well as the attack this summer on
the home of President Santa Ono and
the October vandalism on the Jewish
Federation building in Bloomfield Hills.
“They are seen as cases of proper-
ty damage and are not being taken
seriously enough,
” Acker said. “Five
months have gone by since my home
was first attacked and there are still no
suspects on that. It is very concerning.
”
Acker said many of his friends and
colleagues have privately reached out
to him in support but are hesitant to go
public about it.
“There is a monster that has been
created,
” Acker said. “
And that monster
is antisemitism. No other regent at
the University of Michigan has been
U-M Regent Jordan Acker once again
hit with antisemitic vandalism.
A Night of Broken Glass
continued on page 10
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JORDAN ACKER
U-M
Regent
Jordan
Acker
Mrs. Acker’s car was painted with the
words: “Divest” and “Free Palestine”
with an upside-down red triangle.