Members of the UC Davis chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi), the predominantly-and-historically-Jewish fraternity, woke up the morning of Saturday Jan. 31 to discover two large swastikas spray painted around the fraternity house, which is located across the street from campus.
The graffiti was found on a wall in the back of the building and on the ground near the entrance.
Nathaniel Bernhard, vice president of the UC Davis AEPi, condemned the incident as a hate crime intended to intimidate Jewish students on campus.
“AEPi has never seen an attack like this on our house or our members,” Bernhard said.
The vandalism occurred days after the Associated Students of UC Davis passed a resolution asking the University of California regents to divest from companies with connections to Israel.
“I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that this happened right after divestment,” said Bernhard. “I’m also not making any assumptions or blaming anyone in particular, but I feel like there were a lot of anti-semitism feelings after divestment.”
UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi announced in a statement last week that although ASUCD senate passed the resolution, the resolution does not reflect the position of UC Davis. She called for students and faculty to exercise sensitivity and respect.
Davis police are investigating the incident.
Maria Akhter can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
