ATLANTA — Georgia Tech Police said they are investigating vandalism to the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity house.
This incident happened over the weekend when someone wrote in shaving cream, "Free Palestine" under a banner the fraternity had hanging off a balcony of the house. The banner read, "WE STAND WITH ISRAEL."
Since the fraternity brothers found the message, they've since replaced the banner with one twice as big hanging on the front of the house along with an American and Israeli Flag.
Regarding the vandalism, Georgia Tech released the following statement:
The safety and security of our campus community is of utmost importance. Georgia Tech Police are investigating an incident of vandalism from over the weekend. Someone used shaving cream to write a pro-Palestinian message on the wall of a Jewish fraternity.
On Monday, Georgia Tech President Angel Cabrera sent an email to students, faculty and staff that said in part:
As a reminder, the First Amendment protects everyone’s right to express their views, even if those views are offensive or hateful to others, but it does not allow for vandalism or physical assault. While we protect free speech, we are fully committed to keeping our campus safe for everyone and will not tolerate any form of violence against people or property. I am grateful to the various student groups and leaders who have organized events on campus over the last week. They are perfect examples of what we aspire to be.
Jon Pierce is a past international President of the Jewish fraternity and now handles the fraternity's media relations and external communications.
"Clearly this is an attempt to intimidate Jewish students," he said.
When asked about the vandalism, Pierce said, "It's an effort to try to get Jewish students on college campuses, not to express their support for Israel and to make them afraid to publicly proclaim their Jewish."
Pierce said it's not working. In fact, he said their chapters are trying to educate students on campuses across the U.S. and the U.K. where they have more than 140 active chapters today.
"Our chapters have responded by going out and trying to raise awareness about what's happening in Israel, what's happening in Gaza with Hamas," Pierce explained. "And why campuses student population should be looking for accurate information about what's happening there and learning the truth about Hamas and the terror attacks in Gaza."
Pierce said their brothers are proud of their heritage.
"They are proud of Israel as being the only democratic state in the Middle East, being a place where Jews and Muslims and others have full rights. That is LGBTQ+ friendly, allows open democracy, allows dissent and free speech. All these things that we take for granted here in the United States that in every other country outside of Israel is not a right in the Middle East," Pierce said.
He added while they will not be intimidated, they are asking their chapters to keep safety a top priority.
"We have given them safety instructions. We've asked on 150 campuses across North America and the U.K... We've talked to campus police and asked for more patrols not just at Alpha Epsilon Pi, but other Jewish institutions on campus. We've cautioned... our brothers to be very careful about who comes into the house to make sure the doors are locked, things like that," Peirce explained.
When it comes to the chapters advocating on behalf of Israel, Pierce pointed out, "That doesn't mean that they agree with everything the Israeli government has done or has ever done or will do in the future. But it's to say that we believe in the Jewish homeland and it's in Israel."
Pierce said since the Israel-Hamas war began, they've set up a Zoom series so that their undergraduate students in North America and the U.K. are able to spend some time with their counterparts in Israel. He said they're the only international fraternity that has chapters in Israel.
"The vast majority of whom were in the process of being called up to serve in the IDF- the Israeli Armed Forces. I think it's really eye-opening to college students who, you know, before 10 days ago may not have had these kinds of things to think about or to worry about. And now all of a sudden, they had to confront that, you know, their peers. Colleges are a little different in Israel than they are here, but their peers are dealing with real, you know, literally life and death kind of decisions and kinds of outcomes that they might have," Pierce explained.
He went on to say that the message they want to send after this incident and others across the country is, "Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity stands with Israel. We'll always stand with Israel. We recognize its right to exist, and we look forward to being able to return there in a safe way and in the very near future. And we will not be intimidated. We will not be intimidated to be pro-Israel and to be Jewish."