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'Are You Jewish?' — Ohio State's Public Safety Notice After a Chai Necklace Drew Punches at 1840 N. High Street

OHaggravated assaulttimely warninghigh confidence
Confirmed Threat

At approximately 1:30 a.m. on November 10, 2023, two Ohio State students were assaulted by two unknown men outside a bar near 1840 N. High Street after the men spotted a chai necklace and asked if the students were Jewish. One victim suffered a fractured jaw, the other a fractured nose. Ohio State's Department of Public Safety issued a Public Safety Notice classifying the attack as a hate crime motivated by bias against the Jewish community.

Alerts
1
Response
Killed
0
Injured
2
Institution
The Ohio State University
Public R1 · OH
~65,000 studentsRaveBuckeye Alert / Public Safety Notice
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Public Safety Notice — Columbus — November 10, 2023 In the early morning hours of Friday, November 10, an incident occurred in the immediate off-campus area classified by Ohio law as assault but classified by the Clery Act as a hate crime motivated by bias against the Jewish community. At approximately 1:30 a.m., Ohio State students were approached by two unknown male suspects near 1840 N. High Street. According to reports, the suspects yelled a derogatory term and assaulted two students while asking if they were Jewish. One of the two victims was treated at the Wexner Medical Center and released. The Columbus Division of Police (CPD) is the lead law enforcement agency and is investigating the crime with assistance from The Ohio State University Police Division (OSUPD). Ohio State will not tolerate violations of the law or university policy, including but is not limited to antisemitism, bigotry, Islamophobia, racism, sexism and violence. Anyone with information is encouraged to call CPD at 614-645-4545. Anyone with information concerning this crime should contact either the University Police, 614-292-2121 or Columbus Police, 614-645-4545. You may also report information anonymously to the Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at 614-461-TIPS or the University Crime Stoppers Tips line at 614-247-TIPS. This Public Safety Notice is issued in compliance with the 'Timely Warning' provisions of the federal Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act of 1998.
OSU's PSN explicitly distinguishes between Ohio criminal law (assault) and the Clery Act classification (hate crime motivated by bias against the Jewish community) — a careful legal-frame separation rare in campus alerts
The phrase 'including but is not limited to antisemitism, bigotry, Islamophobia, racism, sexism and violence' is OSU's standard hate-crime PSN language and was used identically in 2020 anti-Black incidents (the 'Together as Buckeyes' alerts)
Naming a specific street address — 1840 N. High Street — provides geographic specificity that triangulates the bar's location
OSU's PSN is the formal Clery Timely Warning channel; the closing paragraph cites § 668.46(e) directly
The incident occurred in OSU's immediate Clery 'noncampus' / 'public property' geography on the High Street commercial strip
Context

Background

The Ohio State University, a public R1 land-grant institution with approximately 65,000 students in Columbus, Ohio, operates one of the largest sworn campus police forces in the country (OSU Police Division) and one of the most-cited Clery alert systems (Buckeye Alert). At approximately 1:30 a.m. on Friday, November 10, 2023, five OSU students walked past two men, Timur Mamatov and a friend, outside a bar at 1840 N. High Street. One student was wearing a chai necklace — a Hebrew symbol meaning 'life'. Mamatov asked if the students were Jewish, and when they answered yes, he punched one victim in the face, fracturing his jaw; during the continuing altercation in the street, a second victim's nose was broken. The students said the assailants shouted 'free Palestine' and called the chai-wearing student a racial slur. OSU's Department of Public Safety issued a Public Safety Notice the same day — explicitly classifying the attack as a Clery-Act hate crime. The case occurred 34 days after the October 7 Hamas attacks and amid a dramatic surge in antisemitic incidents on US campuses. In April 2024, StandWithUs, the ADL, and the Brandeis Center filed a Title VI complaint against OSU. Mamatov was federally indicted on July 3, 2025 and pleaded guilty in August 2025 under the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The case is significant because the PSN's careful legal framing — distinguishing Ohio assault law from the Clery hate-crime classification — provides a model for institutions navigating dual-statutory hate-crime alerts.
Analysis

Key Findings

OSU explicitly distinguished Ohio criminal-law classification (assault) from Clery Act classification (hate crime motivated by bias) — a model legal frame for hate-crime PSNs
Naming the specific address (1840 N. High Street) gave geographic specificity to a Clery 'noncampus / public property' incident
OSU's PSN was issued the same day as the early-morning incident — fast Clery compliance for an off-campus event
The PSN's standardized language ('including but is not limited to antisemitism, bigotry, Islamophobia, racism, sexism and violence') was reused from 2020 anti-Black hate crimes
Federal hate-crime indictment (Hate Crimes Prevention Act, 18 U.S.C. § 249) followed in 2025 — a multi-year prosecution timeline that the PSN's continuing-threat framing helped seed
The case became one of the most-cited examples in OSU's defense to a federal Title VI complaint filed by StandWithUs, ADL, and the Brandeis Center
Outcome
One victim was treated at the Wexner Medical Center for a fractured jaw and released; the second suffered a broken nose. Suspect Timur Mamatov, 20, of Tipp City, Ohio, was federally charged on July 3, 2025 with violating the federal Hate Crimes Prevention Act (18 U.S.C. § 249). Mamatov pleaded guilty on August 15, 2025 and faces up to 10 years in federal prison at sentencing.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
  2. Official
  3. Student Paper
  4. News
  5. News
  6. Official
Tags
hate-crimeantisemitismaggravated-assaultohio-state-universityohiocolumbushigh-streetbuckeye-alertpublic-safety-noticepost-october-7federal-hate-crime-prosecutiontimely-warning
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion