SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) — The head of a New Zealand university apologized after some students dressed as Nazis and wore “Sieg Heil” signs to a party.
Lincoln University Vice-Chancellor Roger Field issued a statement Monday saying that the Oktoberfest party on Friday night in the university’s halls of residence was “inappropriate and clearly falls short of acceptable behavior."
“Lincoln University is taking this issue very seriously,” Field said. “I will be taking appropriate action based on the university’s regulations on discipline and formally apologize for any offense caused.”
New Zealand Jewish Council President Stephen Goodman said this type of behavior “is not the first time and I doubt it will be the last either,” the New Zealand Press Association reported him as saying. “In most of the cases we’ve found in New Zealand, it’s generally through a degree of ignorance that this sort of behavior eventuates. It is not through malicious intent.”
Lincoln University is just outside Christchurch, on the country’s south island. A small community of about 100 Jews lives in the area.
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