Alpha Epsilon Pi, a historically Jewish off-campus fraternity, has been subject to four different alleged antisemitic acts since early May, forcing Temple and Philadelphia Police to step in.
The most recent act on Sept. 7 was an “altercation” between a member of the fraternity and an individual, which stemmed from an incident where the person ripped down an Israeli flag inside the house, said AEPi President Sam Fogel. The incident is currently under investigation by PPD.
The Philadelphia District Attorney also approved felony burglary charges last month for two individuals who allegedly walked on the roof and tried to get into the house, which is located on 17th Street near Berks on Aug. 10. Both suspects were arrested and could be charged in connection to trespassing and attempted burglary on the house, according to TUPD.
“I feel like there’s kind of been a shift where last year I wouldn’t say I felt threatened or anything, whereas this semester there’s this switch to more hostility,” said Fogel, a senior advertising major. “Just the general idea that we are targeted for simply existing as proud Jewish people, it’s hard.”
The first incident occurred on May 6 when ‘Free Palestine’ was spray painted on the rooftop of the fraternity’s house. Additionally, the fraternity’s members reported that an Israeli flag was taken down atop the house. This incident caused AEPi to install Ring cameras to identify any further acts and their perpetrators. On May 24, the cameras caught a group who had trespassed onto the roof and were attempting to get in through the roof hatch.
“For the May 6 incident, TUPD was notified but there was no solvability at this time, no investigative leads opened,” said Vice President of Public Safety Jennifer Griffin. “The May 24 incident, Philadelphia Police Department was notified that day, their center detectives, and then we were notified as well.”
On July 27, another larger group of people went on to the rooftop and banged on the access door. They opened the hatch to the door and attempted to get inside. The group included people who had been caught on the Ring camera on May 24, which led to two arrests.
Griffin said that Temple’s Department of Public Safety has had conversations with the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that works with victims of antisemitic hate crimes and discrimination to protect the rights of those affected.
“We’ve done our due diligence in communicating and ensuring we’re making those notifications,” Griffin said. “Mostly, Student Affairs has provided a lot of support to the students.”
The Anti-Defamation League has worked strongly on antisemitic attacks on college campuses, including a “Not On My Campus” campaign, which directly works with university organizations and leadership to reduce antisemitic incidents.
“Our focus is to ensure the individuals involved are receiving the necessary support and that appropriate actions are taken,” wrote Andrew Goretsky, regional director of ADL Philadelphia, in a statement to The Temple News. “In this case, we are grateful that those allegedly responsible are in the process of being held accountable.”
The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced Temple was being investigated for alleged antisemitic harassment. Campus Reform, the entity that filed against Temple, also filed 20 other Title IV complaints against other universities like the University of Pennsylvania.
After the original string of summer incidents, the fraternity issued a petition and a letter meant to ‘fight antisemitism’ at Temple. AEPi urged Temple to “combat antisemitism with unwavering gravity and urgency, ensuring it receives the same robust response in University actions and communications as any other form of hateful, targeted rhetoric” as well as “engage with representatives of the AEPi Antisemitism Response Center” to bolster efforts to fight anti-semitism against Temple students.
On Aug. 2, Temple President Richard Englert and Provost Gregory Mandel released a statement condemning antisemitic violence and the vandalism incidents against AEPi.
“I would say early on, after the first and second incident, [the university response was] a bit underwhelming,” Fogel said. “After the third incident, we’ve built a relationship and they’re taking it very seriously on all levels of administration. From Student Conduct to Temple Police working with us and having an open conversation, it’s been really helpful.”
Two days after the arrest warrants, Englert updated the Aug. 2 campus announcement to include the details of the arrest warrants, and thanked TUPD detectives and the District Attorney’s office for their help in the case.
The two arrest warrants stemmed from the incidents on May 24 and July 27 at AEPi. TUPD is still investigating the May 6 incident, but without camera footage or any other leading evidence, finding suspects is difficult, Griffin said.
“We didn’t expect something to happen over the summer where everyone was gone which honestly made it more frustrating that it happened,” Fogel said. “It’s our summer, I’m supposed to be relaxing, I was not trying to deal with legal issues. I’m so grateful to Temple Police and Dr. Griffin, just for everyone helping out and playing that part.”
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