NYU student arrested for raising swastika flag during graduation week event

Cayla Bamberger, Rocco Parascandola and Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News on Jun 3, 2026

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NEW YORK — A New York University student has been arrested for raising a flag with swastikas and a Star of David atop a school building during a graduation week event, police said Wednesday.

Alexander Stepnowsky, 23, is charged with criminal trespass as a hate crime, as well as aggravated harassment and burglary charges. He is accused of raising the flag on May 13 on top of a W. 4th St. building near Greene St. in Greenwich Village.

The flag, which resembled the flag of Israel with the Star of David and horizontal stripes — but with two swastikas and the NYU logo added — was raised a little after 5 p.m. the night before commencement, officials said.

The building was identified by the student newspaper Washington Square News as the Steinhardt building, named after Jewish philanthropists Michael and Judy Steinhardt.

NYU officials filed a harassment complaint as a hate crime after the incident, NYPD officials said.

Cops arrested Stepnowsky on Tuesday afternoon after building surveillance footage showed him inside and on the roof when the flag was raised, according to a criminal complaint. He used his NYU access card to move through the building, cops learned.

When questioned, he admitted to constructing the flag and raising it because students were concerned over NYU’s policies involving Israel, a source with knowledge of the case said.

None of the charges were bail eligible and he was released after a brief arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court late Tuesday. A Legal Aid lawyer for Stepnowsky, Vickie Mwitanti, did not immediately return to a request for comment.

NYU said they were grateful for the NYPD’s “exhaustive work and for the efforts of the Manhattan District Attorney in identifying the person responsible for this heinous crime.”

“The symbols that were represented are antisemitic and hateful to every person of conscience; this appalling act violated our sense of community and solidarity,” Wiley Norvell, NYU senior vice president for university relations and public affairs, said in a statement. “In addition to criminal proceedings, we will immediately pursue our disciplinary procedures, which carry the most severe consequences.”

Stepnowsky was in his fourth year at NYU at the time of the incident. A LinkedIn profile that appears to belong to Stepnowsky said he was expected to graduate this year with a major in music technology and a minor in business of media, entertainment and technology after taking a two-year leave of absence from NYU to run a recording studio full-time.

The music technology program is housed in NYU Steinhardt, the building where the flag was raised.

He is a resident of Fairfield, Conn., cops said. He has no prior arrests.

Michael Steinhardt is the co-founder of Birthright Israel, which sends Jewish college students on free trips to Israel that have increasingly become a target for pro-Palestinian protests.

The student newspaper reported that hundreds of graduates and their friends and family were on the scene when the flag was raised for NYU’s annual “Grad Alley” event, an outdoor street fair around Washington Square with food, school merchandise, games and live music.

Elected officials at the time condemned the antisemitic flag and demanded accountability.

“Vandalizing a flag with a Nazi symbol that represents the genocide of millions of Jews is an abhorrent act of antisemitism,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement. “Graduation should be a time of celebration, not hate and division. These disgusting attacks will never be tolerated by New York State.”

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