Hassan Elsamna of Wayne graduated from Rutgers University in May with a 3.9 GPA and a bachelor's degree in cell biology and neuroscience. While in school, he rowed on the crew team and worked as a teaching assistant in physics.

After four years of hard work, Elsamna will start medical school in July.

Proud of his accomplishments, his family submitted his photo and graduation details to share on a Facebook page run by the Palestinian American Community Center in Clifton. It’s a popular annual feature, in which community members give shout-outs to graduates and celebrate their success.

What followed, he said, was hatred.

Under his picture, showing him smiling in a red graduation robe and with a Palestinian scarf around his shoulders, people he did not know wrote in comments that he is a

See Full Page