Jewish Fraternity House at University of California, Berkeley Vandalized With Shellfish

The house of the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) chapter at the University of California, Berkeley was vandalized over the weekend, according to the fraternity.

AEPi said in a statement posted to social media that a group of six people placed shellfish on their front door, tossed the fish inside through open windows, and piled more on the front porch and across the property.

“By singling out AEPi, the Jewish fraternity, and deliberately employing non-kosher food, this act of vandalism goes beyond mere destruction; it represents a calculated decision to target Jewish students within our community,” the statement, signed by the brothers of the Chi Alpha chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi, said. “Instances of antisemitic activity are widespread within our university settings and must be addressed.”

The vandalism of the house comes amid a nationwide surge in antisemitic incidents and, more recently, targeted swattings that have shut down prayer services in synagogues and forced evacuations at other Jewish institutions.

“We are saddened and dismayed by what appears to be a hateful incident of antisemitism targeting the members of the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity,” a University of California, Berkeley spokesperson told The Algemeiner on Monday. “The campus administration has a long-standing and unwavering commitment to confronting antisemitism, and its expression, as we do with all forms of bias, discrimination, and hatred.”

On Monday, US Jewish groups denounced the incident as a blatant expression of hatred.

“From the University of California, Berkeley campus that once led the free speech movement comes a disgusting targeted antisemitic act meant to demean and intimidate a Jewish fraternity,” the Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted. “SWC urges all AEPi chapters to retaliate by hosting kosher events open to all students during the upcoming Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot festivals.”

Jewish on Campus, a nonprofit that tracks antisemitic incidents, said, “On the first Shabbat of the school year, UC Berkeley’s AEPi house was vandalized … We stand with the Jewish community at UC Berkeley.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 219 antisemitic incidents occurred on US college campuses in 2022, a 41 percent increase from the prior yrar. The total included 127 incidents of harassment, 90 of vandalism, and two of assault. Meanwhile, 19 percent of incidents referenced Israel and Zionism, a total of 25 targeted Hillel centers, and one third involved swastika imagery.

This year, many similar acts have taken places at institutions of higher education in California, which as a state had the second most antisemitic incidents in the US in 2022, coming behind only New York. For example, back to back antisemitic incidents occurred on and near the University of California, Santa Cruz in May. That same month, an unidentified person used their own excrement to vandalize the walls of a University of California, San Diego residential bathroom with swastikas.

A few weeks earlier in April, Stanford University investigated two incidents that happened less than 10 days apart, following several others that occurred in the last year.

To provide support to victims of antisemitism, the ADL and Alpha Epsilon Pi announced earlier this month a new partnership for launching the AEPi Antisemitism Response Center, which will serve as a “centralized system for reporting and tracking antisemitic incidents on campuses” and other initiatives that alert the wider public to the growing problem of antisemitism.

The center, also known as ARC, will open during the 2023-24 academic year, staffed by one full-time official who coordinates its programming in cooperation with ADL and AEPi staff.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

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