Rutgers University (illustrative)
Rutgers University (illustrative)iStock

A Jewish fraternity whose members were targeted twice in recent weeks, first on Passover and then on Holocaust Remembrance Day, is calling on the university to take action to address its “antisemitism problem.”

On April 15, the last day of Passover, pro-Palestinian protestors marching in the “Defend Al Aqsa Defend Palestine” protest drove to the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) house while waving Palestinian Authority flags from vehicles. At the fraternity, they parked in front and continued to wave the flags while yelling antisemitic abuse at Jewish students, including calling Jews “baby killers” and “terrorists.”

AEPi told the Daily Targum campus newspaper that fraternity members were also spat on by protestors.

A week later, the fraternity was egged during a 24-hour name reading Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony for the second year in a row.

The fraternity said in the statement that their members have faced continual harassment due to AEPi being targeted as a mostly Jewish fraternity and that antisemitism is widespread on campus.

Examples included antisemitic abuse yelled at Jewish students leaving the college Chabad House and being targeted for wearing religious items, such as a Star of David necklace, which many Jewish students now avoid wearing at Rutgers.

“AEPi has been targeted for two years in a row by getting egged on its national Holocaust memorial day event, where brothers read the names of Holocaust victims murdered,” the statement said. “People throwing eggs at the house, especially at that time for two years in a row, proves that Rutgers has an antisemitism problem which puts the Jewish population of the university at risk.”

AEPi called for Rutgers to enact an action plan and to introduce antisemitism education in order to combat rising discrimination against Jewish students.