On the night of March 17, the Brown University undergrad residence that houses Jewish fraternity Beta Rho Pi and co-ed fraternity Zeta Delta Xi was defaced with anti-Semitic and homophobic graffiti.
According to an email provided to New Voices, written by the interim assistant vice presidents of Brown Campus Life & Student Services, Mary Grace Almandrez and MaryLou McMillan, the graffiti was found on the walls, in the hallways, and in the bathrooms of Marcy House.
Almandrez and McMillan wrote that staff from Hillel, Public Safety, Campus Life, and Facilities Management, as well as other divisions and departments, spent the night working with Marcy House residents to gather information, remove the graffiti, and offer support to students. Public Safety has begun a full investigation.
“While the investigation is ongoing there is no reason to believe that there is any immediate danger to any individual, organization or the campus community,” they wrote.
“While the graffiti has been removed, the impact of identity-based bias and threat is not easily wiped away. This incident impacts not only those immediately involved, but threatens our shared sense of safety and respect on campus.”
The University will offer three community gatherings for in-person support.
Brown RISD Hillel issued a statement on the graffiti:
Like many other students on this campus, we were shocked and upset to read an email earlier today from Brown’s Office of Campus Life sharing the news that there were “multiple instances of homophobic, anti-Semitic, and threatening graffiti written on the walls, hallways, and bathrooms” of Marcy House, home to the Beta Rho Pi and Zeta Delta Xi fraternities. This kind of hateful behavior is unacceptable. We, the Brown RISD Hillel Student Executive Board, condemn this anti-Semitism, homophobia, and other forms of threatening speech.
As students, College Hill and the Brown RISD Hillel community have been a home for us as we explore and develop our Jewish identities. Some of us will be here this afternoon from 5:00 to 6:15pm as Brown offers Hillel as a space for informally coming together to support and hear from one another. All five of us will be here tonight for Shabbat and will be spending time in the building in the days to come. We are here to support those affected by last night’s incident and invite anyone to join us or reach out to us as we process our emotions as individuals and as a community.
With much love and support,
Noah Fitzgerel ‘17, President
Alyssa Baum ‘18, Vice President of Social Justice & the Arts
Sam Hainbach ‘18, Vice President of Religious & Spiritual Life
Dorit Rein ‘18, Vice President of Social Engagement
Tamara Upfal ‘18, Vice President of Community Groups
Beta Rho Pi and Zeta Delta Xi issued a joint statement on March 19:
JOINT STATEMENT FROM BETA RHO PI AND ZETA DELTA XI ON THE RECENT HATE CRIME IN MARCY HALL
Trigger warning: anti-Semitism, homophobia, violent hate speech
On the night of Thursday 17 March, residents of Marcy Hall at Brown University, home to Beta Rho Pi, a Jewish fraternity, and Zeta Delta Xi, a predominantly LGBTQ fraternity, discovered numerous threatening anti-Semitic and homophobic messages scrawled on the walls of two floors. Students immediately contacted Brown’s Department of Public Safety. After the graffiti had been documented with the help of DPS, we and other residents of Marcy worked together to remove the writing and began processing the implications of finding such pointed hate speech in our home.
We are devastated and outraged that this anti-Semitic and homophobic hate crime—and to be clear, this is a hate crime—occurred in our home. It is not a coincidence that the targeted building houses two organizations that are visible symbols of the Jewish and LGBTQ communities at Brown, nor that one anti-Semitic message was written across from a door with Hebrew text on it. While this happened within Marcy Hall, it has impacted the wider Jewish and LGBTQ communities on campus. Students across Brown University feel understandably threatened by this cowardly expression of anti-Semitic and homophobic hate.
We are grateful for the outpouring of support from students, alumni, and organizations across campus. Anti-Semitic and homophobic threats are clearly shocking and horrifying to many people, but these opinions do not exist in isolation: they are symptoms of larger issues, and they will not stop until all instances of hate speech are denounced with the same force, and the systems of oppression that support and enable them are dismantled. While we appreciate Brown University’s rapid response to these events, we condemn each and every instance of hateful speech in our community, and we hope that future instances targeting other marginalized groups are treated with the same gravity.
We ask that you respect our privacy, and that you avoid sharing any images or content of the hateful messages. We don’t want to give this person any further platforms to spread their hate. We also ask that people avoid jumping to conclusions or assigning blame before a thorough investigation can be completed.
Beta Rho Pi and Zeta Delta Xi, as well as other residents of Marcy Hall, stand together against this intolerance. In the aftermath of this hate crime, we scrubbed the walls of our home together and we comforted each other. Our communities stand side by side against this and all forms of hate speech.
If you have any further questions, please contact Brown’s Office of University Communications at 401-863-2453.
For Brown students affected by these events, community support is available through the Brown University LGBTQ Center, Brown RISD Hillel, CAPS, and Project LETS, Inc.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
