Investigation Begins Over Anti-Semitic Epithet

New Mexico State athletic officials began an investigation Tuesday into the origin of an anti-Semitic epithet and several alleged incidents of racism apparently directed at Long Beach State’s basketball team before and during a Big West Conference game Monday night.

Steve Shutt, New Mexico State assistant athletic director, said university officials questioned several school employees Tuesday morning. They hope to determine who might have had access to the visitors’ locker at the Pan American Center, New Mexico State’s arena, where Long Beach assistant coach Jason Levy and players discovered the epithet.

The epithet appeared to be directed at Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg, who is Jewish, officials said. Officials also spoke with several people who were ejected from the arena late in the game for allegedly directing racial slurs at the 49ers. Shutt said New Mexico State officials have not set a deadline in which to complete the investigation.

“We have nothing solid at this point,” Shutt said. “We’ve found no one with a motive [to write the epithet] or an ax to grind, but we will continue to look into it.”

As a result of the locker-room incident, Shutt said, New Mexico State will increase its game-day security. Another security guard will be added to monitor the hallway outside the visitors’ locker room, providing the area with two guards.

Greenberg was distraught by the message and angered by his perception that New Mexico State officials were initially somewhat aloof about his concerns. Greenberg admonished New Mexico State and its fans in a postgame tirade, in which he said his African American players had been subjected to racial slurs late in the second half of the Aggies’ 76-63 victory.

With less than a minute remaining in the game, Long Beach forward Brian Yankelevitz and assistant coach Matt Hart had to restrain Greenberg from confronting fans seated near the 49ers’ bench.

“There are more important things than a basketball game,” Greenberg shouted in front of reporters and photographers. “That’s life and being a good person. I have to go into my locker room and see a sign that says we’re going to kick your [anti-Semitic epithet].

“And I have to hear my [African American] players called the . . . word, and I have to hear my white guys be called white boys. That’s a sad commentary on life and that’s a sad commentary on this university.”