GRADUATION: Student beaten in dorm room

A Jewish University freshman may file private criminal charges against four Asian males who allegedly choked and beat him in his Kings Court room two weeks ago in what appears to have been an anti-semitic attack. According to University Police Lieutenant Gerald Leddy, the police report chronicling the event details a series of incidents which began early on the morning of May 1. Police arrived at the corner of 36th and Chestnut streets at about 2 a.m., Leddy said, where a group of Asian males was "causing a disturbance and breaking windows" in front of the Sheraton Hotel. When they were stopped by the officers, the Asian males claimed that a resident from the Kings Court dormitory had thrown a bottle at them and shouted racial slurs at them, Leddy said. When they identified a room, police officers went up to the room in the dormitory, where residents "gave a different account," he said. According to the police report, the two students said they had yelled out the window for the students to be quiet. A half hour later, the students said, four Asian males were in the dorm room "threatening to kill one of the guys who had yelled out the window." "There were visible signs of one of the guys in the dorm room being grabbed around the neck -- welts, bruises, various signs of assault," Leddy said, referring to the police report. "There are allegations that the Asian males were yelling ethnic slurs to the white males in [the dorm]," Leddy said. "The slurs centered around the assumption that the white males were Jewish." The student, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was in serious danger that night. "They grabbed me and choked me on my bed, and were saying things like 'You fucking Jew, we're going to kill you,' " he said. The other students involved could not be reached for comment because University Police would not release their names. Leddy did say that one of the students was a resident of the dorm. The scenario, the police report said, could be corroborated by several Kings Court and English House residents. At 2 a.m., Leddy said, the same group of Asian males were allegedly seen assaulting an elderly man in front of the Sheraton, and residents of the dorm yelled out their windows for them to stop. According to University Police, the elderly man has not filed a complaint. Because the event was labeled a "simple assault," Leddy said that the student was advised to file a private criminal complaint which, the student said, he is currently considering. "The welts on his neck were probably not indicative of full proof in the officer's view," Leddy said. "Regardless of which is the true story, [a private criminal complaint] is the way to go." In the meantime, Sergeant Ivan Kimble said the event has been classified as a disturbance rather than a crime, and that the incident was referred to the Judicial Inquiry Office. Representatives of the JIO's office said last week, however, that they had not received any information on this case and that their office was not handling the complaint.