Jewish fraternity at Cal Poly vandalized with swastikas, anti-Semitic graffiti
Someone spray-painted swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on and in front of a Jewish fraternity house at Cal Poly on Friday night, according to a campuswide message by the San Luis Obispo university.
The incident at Alpha Epsilon Pi happened during Shabbat, a weekly religious observance that starts at sunset on Friday and ends after dark on Saturday evening.
“Last week, on January 27th, we honored the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished and others affected by the Holocaust, the fraternity wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday. “Unfortunately, in 2021, antisemitism is still the No. 1 cause of hate crimes in the United States,”
“We awoke to multiple swastikas and antisemitic statements spray-painted on and in front of our house,” the post continued. “This was targeted at us, as the Jewish fraternity, and we would like to let the world know we do not tolerate or condone this behavior.
“Our chapter and the entire San Luis Obispo Jewish community stand together proudly against those who are uneducated and who encourage hateful acts.”
According to a campuswide message by university President Jeffrey Armstrong and other officials Saturday evening, the incident was reported to the San Luis Obispo Police Department and an investigation is underway.
Interim San Luis Obispo Police Chief Jeff Smith said that the department’s hate crime investigator was looking into the matter.
However, since no one witnessed the incident, police did not have any leads as of Sunday morning, Smith told The Tribune.
Residents of Alpha Epsilon Pi began cleaning the vandalism and repairing the damage on Saturday, but “the emotional scars will last much longer,” Cal Poly officials wrote in the message.
“We are struggling to comprehend the heinous nature of this crime, alongside our Jewish community,” the message stated.
“Let us be perfectly clear: behavior that promotes any form of hate and seeks to make members of our community feel unsafe and unwelcome — especially in their own home – has absolutely no place in our community,” Cal Poly officials said.
Included in the campuswide message were several resources and programs for those who may need support:
- 24/7 Counseling Support
- University Housing Residential Life
- Fraternity and Sorority Life
- Student Diversity and Belonging
- Office of the Dean of Students
- Office of University Diversity and Inclusion
- Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs
- SLO Hillel Organization
- Chabad of SLO and Cal Poly
Anyone with information regarding the vandalism is encouraged to call the San Luis Obispo Police Department at 805-781-7312 or make an online report at https://bit.ly/2Lwe3ze.
This story was originally published February 6, 2021 at 10:29 PM.
