The Michigan Men’s hockey team removed sophomore Johnny Druskinis weeks before the start of the 2023-24 season for reportedly defacing the university’s Jewish Resource Center.
Surveillance cameras caught Druskinis and per one published report, freshman women’s lacrosse player Megan Minturn, spray painting homophobic slurs and male genitalia on a sidewalk in front of the Jewish center in August. As of now, no punishment has been announced or reported for Minturn.
Jewish Resource Center Vandalism Update pic.twitter.com/9bi7as67Nn
— Ann Arbor Police (@A2Police) October 3, 2023
Last week, multiple news outlets reported Druskinis reported had been kicked off the team but were largely mum on the reason why. The social media account, Stop Anti Semites in a now deleted tweet, was the first to connect Druskinis to the spray painting incident although incorrectly stated Druskinis had drawn swastikas and not the images shown in the above tweet.
Yesterday CBS Detroit confirmed the identified suspect was indeed Druskinis, before removing Druskinis and the hockey player angle from their site and video. Below is the initial video they tweeted referencing the hockey player connection and the original headline that ran.
Coming up on CBS News Detroit at 4 p.m., our @MeredithBruckTV has more on two suspects accused of defacing the walkway of the Jewish Resource Center at the University of Michigan https://t.co/XLTTI09A5o pic.twitter.com/0raw28uGAc
— CBS Detroit (@CBSDetroit) October 2, 2023
Today the Detroit Free Press added further confirmation:
“Michigan hockey removed sophomore defenseman Johnny Druskinis just before the start of the 2023-24 season for allegedly defacing the property near the university’s Jewish Resource Center with male genitalia and a homophobic slur with another student in August.
“Johnny Druskinis is no longer on the Michigan Hockey roster, following a violation of team rules,” a Michigan spokesperson said in a statement.
The Michigan spokesperson did not elaborate on the reason why Druskinis was dismissed.”
The spokesperson did not elaborate to The Free Press as to what rules Druskinis violated to earn the boot from the prestigious program.
Jewish Resource Center director Rabbi Fully Eisenberger called the incident “shocking” in an August interview with CBS News Detroit.
Rabbi Eisenberger refused to press charges on the case as the two students were said to have been “heavily intoxicated” at the time.
“Even if a person is intoxicated, there’s a certain level of control that a person should have,” Eisenberger told CBS News Detroit.
“It shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere in this country, but it certainly isn’t in Ann Arbor,” Ann Arbor Interim Police Chief Aimee Metzer previously told CBS News Detroit.
Michigan’s student paper would later report that both Druskinis and Minter apologized at a Shabbat dinner in early September.
While a disturbing incident, this unfortunately isn’t the first incident of Michigan student athletes causing negative headlines because of anti-semitic behavior as last year star Michigan Running Back issued an apology for retweeting an anti-semitic video.
[CBS Detroit, Detroit Free Press]
