The Jewish fraternity on Rutgers University’s New Brunswick campus has had a fourth act of antisemitism directed at it over the last 18 months after three broken eggs were found on the sidewalk in front of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) fraternity house on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
The incident, which is being investigated by Rutgers Police in coordination with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, prompted swift condemnation from Jewish groups, the university and Gov. Phil Murphy.
University spokesperson Dory Devlin said that Rutgers Police have increased patrols, added temporary camera coverage in the area, and its investigation remains ongoing.
“Neither hatred nor bigotry has a place at Rutgers, nor should they have a place anywhere in the world,” read a statement she emailed to The Jewish Link. “At Rutgers we believe that antisemitism and all forms of racism, intolerance, and xenophobia are unacceptable wherever and whenever they occur.”
The vandalism also elicited a response from the governor, who tweeted, “To those who vandalized @RutgersU’s Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi, during Rosh Hashanah, I say this: Antisemitism has no place in New Jersey. I will always condemn and speak out against bigotry and intolerance.”
A number of Jewish organizations throughout the state also put out a joint statement expressing their horror at such an incident occurring on one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar. The five organizations—The Anti-Defamation League of New York/New Jersey; American Jewish Committee-New Jersey; Rutgers Hillel; and the Jewish federations of Northern New Jersey, Heart of New Jersey and Greater MetroWest; said they were “appalled” over the number of times AEPi was targeted and that it was “especially appalling” that the incidents occurred on Jewish festivals and holy days. They called on the university to do more to protect Jewish students from “these heinous acts.”
The fraternity house off College Avenue on Sicard Street had eggs thrown at it during the annual reading of the names of Holocaust victims during the last two commemorations of Yom HaShoah. On the seventh day of last Passover, two cars of students, believed to have been from the university chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which was holding a rally at nearby Brower Commons, drove past the fraternity waving Palestinian flags and shouting “baby killers” and unprintable antisemitic obscenities while a group of fraternity brothers were out back playing basketball. Rutgers police later determined they were not university students. The following day at about 2 a.m., a group stood in front of the house screaming, “Free Palestine” and more antisemitic slurs. Several days later came the second egging incident as AEPi brothers were reading the names of Holocaust victims.
At the time of last year’s incidents some fraternity members had told The Jewish Link they were afraid to wear shirts or paraphernalia identifying them as members of AEPi.
By Debra Rubin
