New Brunswick, NJ – A string of antisemitic incidents, which remain under investigation by Rutgers University police, have targeted a Jewish fraternity at Rutgers University.
On the heels of an incident Friday, the Rutgers University fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) was egged by unknown perpetrators on Monday night or early Tuesday morning.
An egging also occurred last year at the same time, during the fraternity’s annual 24-hour Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) reading of names of people who died during the Holocaust, said Rutgers Hillel Interim Executive Director Rabbi Esther Reed.
Members of AEPi called Rutgers police Friday afternoon after a separate antisemitic incident.
At approximately 4:15 p.m. Friday, several carloads of people carrying and waving Palestinian flags stopped in front of the AEPi fraternity house on Sicard Street. Fraternity house members said occupants of the vehicles “yelled antisemitic remarks, spit in their direction and threw miscellaneous items,” Rutgers police said.
Epithets yelled by the perpetrators included “baby killers” and “terrorist,” Reed said. Reed said the incident, which involved four cars, took place after a local chapter of the organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) hosted a Friday afternoon rally called “Defend Al-Aqsa, Defend Palestine.”
The local SJP chapter could not be reached immediately for comment.
The rally was held at the university’s Rutgers-New Brunswick Brower Commons building, one block from the fraternity, said AEPi President Adam Kaufman, a junior at Rutgers.
Individuals in one of the cars were asked to get out and show identification by police. Reed said “that to her knowledge, none of the perpetrators were Rutgers students.”
None of the members reported being struck, and no one was physically injured as a result of this incident, police said.
Rutgers police said they are continuing to investigate the incident, and the Middlesex County Prosecutors Office has been notified.
Kaufman said the incidents are “unfortunate” and “an example of how the Jews as a community do not feel safe,” especially coming on the second to last day of Passover and right before Yom HaShoah.
“We didn’t want to start anything, and we didn’t start anything,” he continued. “None of us attended the rally. But unfortunately, they decided to do a drive-by with cars full of people raising Palestinian flags, and calling us names and stopping by the house on purpose. And the fact that it also was the second to last day of Passover creates a little bit more of an impactful timing to hurt us on an even more deeper level.”
On Monday, Rutgers University–New Brunswick Chancellor-Provost Francine Conway sent a letter to the Rutgers community acknowledging the incident and noting the university had received reports of harassment of Jewish students at the AEPi fraternity on Friday.
The incident involved still unidentified individuals who appear to have targeted the Rutgers fraternity entirely because of the Jewish identity of its members, Conway said.
“Initial representations regarding the incident are disturbing,” Conway said. “We understand and are sensitive to the concerns of those who were targeted, and stand by our Jewish students, faculty and staff. Harassment based on religious belief, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or for any reason, is antithetical to our values at Rutgers University.”
“The university will increase security patrols in and around the targeted building and, as always, provides counseling and support to students who are experiencing trauma or other effects of these actions,” Conway continued.
Students needing to speak with someone should contact the Dean of Students Office.
Kaufman said he would like to see and hear a bigger response from the university, especially Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway.
“I call for the university, especially for the president, to act on antisemitism,” he said. “Fifteen percent of the student body at Rutgers is Jewish, but I don’t feel like we have a good enough representation in the university with everything that’s going on.
“They sent an announcement but we just feel we just feel that we’re being silenced — that they are just putting out announcements to make us feel better. But, there’s not really any change or any plan of action to present to us.”
