Man sentenced to seven years for painting Nazi symbols at Northwestern University

Shahid Hussain, 43, of Niles, was sentenced to seven years in prison after entering Northwestern University’s campus on Jan. 30 and spray-painting swastikas and other Nazi symbols on multiple signs and fixtures. Surveillance footage also captured him performing a Nazi salute. He pleaded guilty to two hate-crime charges and one count of institutional vandalism, and Cook County Judge Paul Pavlus delivered the sentence during a hearing in Skokie.

State’s Attorney Eileen Burke emphasized that the conviction underscores a zero-tolerance stance toward hate-motivated intimidation. Hussain was arrested by Evanston police on Feb. 12 after Northwestern police located him, and he had previously served a three-year term for hate-related vandalism against a Jewish day school, synagogues and a kosher bakery in 2022.