New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, said Tuesday that an individual has been arrested and remains in custody in connection with a series of antisemitic statements posted online threatening the Jewish community at the upstate university.

The governor, who met with students from the campus Monday, said she promised that the state would do everything it could to find the person responsible for the online incitement. “Earlier today, law enforcement identified a person of interest as part of the investigation and this individual is currently in the custody of the New York State Police for questioning,” she said in a brief statement. “Public safety is my top priority and I’m committed to combating hate and bias wherever it rears its ugly head.”

Jewish students on the campus at Ithaca, New York were advised to avoid a kosher dining hall and the Center for Jewish Living on campus Monday “out of an abundance of caution” following the appearance of the threatening messages.

The student newspaper at Cornell, the Cornell Daily Sun, reported that the online threats surfaced on a Greek life website not affiliated with the university. The messages threatened to shoot students at the Jewish center and encouraged others to harm Jewish students on campus. There are about 3,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate Jewish students at Cornell, and they comprise about 22% of the student body.

Ms. Hochul, whose statement offered no other details about the person or his or her motives, met with students on the campus Monday to assuage the fears expressed by many Jewish students on campus following the reports.

“No one should be afraid to walk from their dorm or their dining hall to a classroom,” she said. “When speech crosses over into hate speech and into hate crimes, that’s when we have to make sure that students know that we’ll step up and protect them.”

Cornell is one of several American universities that have been rocked by pro- and anti-Israel demonstrations and marches in support of Palestinians in Gaza. The White House has condemned what it called the “grotesque” and “poisonous” displays of support for Hamas terrorists holding hundreds, including dozens of Americans, hostage in Gaza.