MSU Apologizes for Hitler Image on Stadium Scoreboard
A photo of Hitler appeared on a large video scoreboard about 80 minutes before the start of MSU’s football game on Saturday.
(Photo: masisyan/stock.adobe.com)
Note: This article was updated on 11/3/2023 to include information on President Biden’s new measures to tackle antisemitism on college campuses.
East Lansing, Michigan — Michigan State University (MSU) has apologized for a photo of Adolf Hitler appearing on Spartan Stadium’s largest scoreboard before MSU’s football team kicked off their game against the Michigan Wolverines on Oct. 21.
Not only was Hitler’s image shown on the large video screen, so did a trivia question about his birthplace in Austria, reports WFVX.
Needless to say, the mistake did not sit well with many of the fans in attendance, especially in light of the current Israel-Hamas conflict.
According to MSU officials, the content came from a third-party source, reports MLive. The school said it will no longer use that source and will update how it approves its video content.
MSU Associate Athletic Director Matt Larson apologized for the inappropriate material.
“We are deeply sorry for the content that was displayed, as this is not representative of our institutional values,” he said. “The image was harmful to our communities, especially our Jewish community which is currently experiencing a rise in antisemitism, including acts of violence.”
On Oct. 30, President Joe Biden unveiled new measures being taken by the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, and the Department of Education to combat antisemitism on college campuses. In part, a White House official said DHS and DOJ “have disseminated public safety information to and hosted multiple calls with campus law enforcement, as well as state, local, tribal and territorial officials to address the threat environment and share information about available resources.”
The employee responsible for the content has been put on leave and has not been identified. A Michigan State official didn’t indicate if the offensive materials was intentional or the result of lax oversight, reports NBC News.
The pre-game video was not viewed in its entirety by MSU Athletics before it was played for the audience. School officials acknowledged the process failure.
The image of the infamous Nazi leader, whose regime killed six million Jews and many others in World War II, appeared about 80 minutes before the start of the football game.
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About the Author
Robin Hattersley, Editor-in-Chief
Robin has been covering the security and campus law enforcement industries since 1998 and is a specialist in school, university and hospital security, public safety and emergency management, as well as emerging technologies and systems integration. She joined CS in 2005 and has authored award-winning editorial on campus law enforcement and security funding, officer recruitment and retention, access control, IP video, network integration, event management, crime trends, the Clery Act, Title IX compliance, sexual assault, dating abuse, emergency communications, incident management software and more. Robin has been featured on national and local media outlets and was formerly associate editor for the trade publication Security Sales & Integration. She obtained her undergraduate degree in history from California State University, Long Beach.
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