Jarrett Buba sentenced for attacking two Pitt students

Jarrett Buba has been sentenced for attacking two Jewish University of Pittsburgh students.

As part of a plea deal finalized on May 19 in Allegheny County’s Fifth Judicial District Mental Health Court, Buba, who has been in detention since being arrested shortly after the 2024 attack, will serve up to five years of probation and be remanded to a mental health facility until he completes a program supervised by Judge Beth Lazzara and deemed to no longer be a threat to the public.

The attack occurred on Aug. 30, 2024, as students Asher Goodwin and Ilan Gordon made their way across the lawn of the Cathedral of Learning to attend a Hillel JUC of Pittsburgh event.

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Both Goodwin and Gordon were wearing kippahs at the time of the attack. Buba donned a keffiyeh and brandished a glass bottle as a weapon.

The two students both suffered injuries as a result of the attack. Goodwin was cut by the bottle, suffering a laceration on his neck; Gordon experienced a concussion.

A day after the attack, Carla Panzaell, Pitt’s vice provost of student affairs, and Clyde Wilson Pickett, Pitt’s vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, issued a statement condemning the attack, but saying that “the assault was determined by law enforcement not to be targeted or directed towards any specific group.”

Despite that statement, part of Buba’s plea included four charges that included ethnic intimidation, as well simple and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

In his victim statement, read before the court, Goodwin, who has since graduated and moved to Philadelphia, said he experiences memories of attack every day.

“I still see your eyes — wild and full of rage,” he said. “I feel my breath catch. My body tenses in those moments. I am right back in the fear you created.”

He said that a moment meant for “joy, reflection and unity” was turned to “fear and violence,” and noted that Buba chose “violence driven by prejudice and fear.”

Gordon, currently serving in the IDF, wrote a statement that was read into the court record by his father, Jared Gordon.

He noted that he was an “observant” Jew who wears a kippah, regularly dons tefillin and is the grandchild of Holocaust survivors. He went on to describe the way he perceived the atmosphere of the campus following Hamas’ terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and enduring what he called “a year of university-sanctioned calls to ‘globalize the intifada.’”

Buba, Gordon wrote, “smashed a 40-ounce glass bottle on my right cheek, shattering it across my friend’s neck. There were others walking with us that evening; but he ran at us, selected us, chose us to attack two visibly Jewish students participating in Jewish student life.”

A catcher on the Pitt Club baseball team, Gordon said the injuries he suffered effectively ended his baseball career and forced him to have dental surgery.

Gordon laid some of the blame for his attack on the University of Pittsburgh, writing, “It’s unfortunate groups supported by the University of Pittsburgh were able to incite violence against Jews and Israelis with impunity prior to the attack. Our assault was inextricably linked to threatening rhetoric and a climate that normalizes bigotry.”

The statement concluded by noting that both the city and the university have an “obligation to create an environment where no person is discriminated against for who they are.”

Addressing the court, Buba said he was “truly sorry” and “remorseful,” and that he had stopped taking his mental health medication and had been “hallucinating” and “hearing voices.”

He said he hoped “to be forgiven.”

Following the sentencing, Goodwin said he suffered from bouts of anxiety following the attack and continues to feel “vulnerable,” but that he was even more “proud” of his Jewish identity following the attack.

The attack wasn’t the first time Goodwin experienced antisemitism on the university campus, he said, but described Pitt as “a very Jewish place.”

Goodwin said he reported the hate he experienced to the university, but “there was no follow-up.”

“The office for equity, diversity and inclusion doesn’t include Jews,” he said.

Goodwin also said he had several conversations with different Pitt administrators following Oct. 7 and “the dangerous political climate on campus.”

“They listened but they didn’t really act,” he said.

Jared Gordon told the Chronicle that his family and Goodwin’s family both believe it was important Buba “took responsibility for the ethnic intimidation” the two students suffered.

“We’re comfortable with the fact that he’s going to be monitored for five years and that he’s immediately going back to lockdown in a mental health facility that is safe for the community,” Jared Gordon said.

Ilan Gordon experienced antisemitism beginning during his first semester at the school, his father said. The family initiated conversations with the university, urging administrators to bring in the Brandeis Center for sensitivity training and include training against Jew-hatred as part of the university’s anti-hate curriculum, which already includes anti-Black and anti-Asian education.

“We had conversations up and down the chain of senior administration at Pitt for three-and-a-half years talking about the need to curb antisemitism on campus,” Jared Gordon said.

He expressed frustration at the university’s statement issued the day after the attack, as it immediately ruled out hate as a motivating factor.

In a statement to the Chronicle, the University said there is “zero tolerance” for “violence and hate” on campus. It went on to condemn antisemitism and the “actions of the assailant.”

“To state that the University took no action both before and after this attack is simply wrong,” the statement reads. “As we do for all students, faculty, and staff who experience traumatic or difficult incidents, we offered these students comprehensive support services. It was University of Pittsburgh police officers who apprehended the offender, who was not a member of our University community, and who worked in direct partnership with local law enforcement and the FBI to see the case through to its conclusion. In the aftermath of the attack, the University also increased security measures to better protect our students and campus community.”

Further, the Pitt statement said the university works closely with Jewish organizations, campus groups and law enforcement agencies to “create a campus environment that is safe and welcoming.” It noted expanded education and training in partnership with organizations including the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League and StandWithUs, “focusing on Jewish identity and the historical and contemporary forms of antisemitism.”

“The University of Pittsburgh Police Department continues to offer the Walking Escort Program, a service in which students, faculty and staff can be escorted from Hillman Library and the William Pitt Union to their destinations upon request. This program offers support for members of our Jewish community who attend religious services and gatherings. The University also provides supplemental security support to Chabad and Hillel, and University administrators meet regularly with Jewish students to stay informed about safety concerns and address specific issues,” the statement continued.

The university also established a working group on antisemitism, engaging national experts, “students, faculty and staff across the university,” which is “designed to promote understanding empathy and respectful dialogue.”
A report from the working group, created in 2024, is expected sometime this year. PJC

David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.