Tuesday, April 27, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.
A University of Nevada, Las Vegas student slated to take charge of the campus newspaper is under fire from a Jewish student organization for alleged anti-Semitic comments posted on his personal Web site.
The student group, Hillel, and the Nevada chapter of the Anti-Defamation League have launched an effort to oust 21-year-old Justin Chomintra from the twice-weekly Rebel Yell after comments about Jews and homosexuals were posted in September on his online weblog, or diary.
The comments came immediately after a breakup with his girlfriend, who is Jewish, said Ian Jankelowitz, UNLV student president for Hillel, a national organization for Jewish college students.
"Being Jewish isn't what you are it's who you are, you stupid (expletive)," Chomintra posted on the site Sept. 8, 2003. "It doesn't determine anything. And if it does determine how you shape your life you're a sad, pathetic, weak organism. Forger (sic) your own identity and value system and stop being such a parasitic, spineless (expletive)."
In the post he also used derogatory names for homosexuals for Jankelowitz and another man.
The next day Chomintra said the previous day's post was "completely and utterly how I feel. I don't regret or take anything back."
He said he wasn't anti-Semitic, saying his ex-girlfriend is Jewish and he had "a few friends" in a Jewish fraternity. He said he hated one of the targets of the slurs, "not because you're Jewish, but because you're a rude, pretentious (expletive)."
Hillel, which represents about 200 student members at UNLV, has since launched its own online petition to the paper's advisory board asking for Chomintra's dismissal. Cynthia Luria, Nevada regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, asked the advisory board in a letter Jan. 9 to reverse its decision to promote Chomintra.
Chomintra beat out four other applicants to be named editor-in-chief for the 2004-05 school year. The publication's advisory board announced its decision earlier this month.
Chomintra said the conflict grew from a disagreement with Jankelowitz. Chomintra's ex-girlfriend worked with Jankelowitz in Hillel.
"This is a personal war he's launching on me and he's accusing me of being anti-Semitic," Chomintra said, adding that he took the site down within 24 hours of the accusations. "There isn't a shred of anti-Semitism in my body."
The comments were written in anger and taken "very out of context," Chomintra said.
He said he later apologized at a meeting with the Yell's advisory board before his appointment, but still felt his comments were taken out of context.
Jeff Hoyt, the current Rebel Yell editor-in-chief, said he was not familiar with Hillel's complaint but knew about disagreements between Chomintra and Jankelowitz.
"I just know Hillel is having a petition for a weblog he made," Hoyt said. "They're taking comments he made against an individual for an entire group."
Such comments would be out of character for Chomintra, Hoyt added.
Marla Scher, Hillel's director of Jewish Student Life, said the group took its concerns before the board in January, at which time Chomintra had to defend the posts, she said. "They, I guess, didn't feel it was important and still appointed him editor-in-chief," Scher said. "They're very well aware."
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