Religious text damaged in vandalism at GWU fraternity house

by Monique Beals - 11/01/21 11:01 PM ET

A Torah was “desecrated” and other items were damaged in a burglary that occurred at The George Washington University’s Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter house early Sunday morning, according to a statement from the fraternity.

The fraternity, known colloquially as “Teek,” is about 25 percent Jewish, fraternity president Chris Osborne told The Washington Post.

The damage included blue detergent poured over a copy of a Torah and smoke detectors pulled out of the ceiling in addition to hot sauce that was rubbed on the walls of the fraternity house. Most of the damage was in the main living room, which housed a Bible and a Torah. Members use a text of their choosing when they are sworn in to the organization, the Post reported.

“All I know is the Bible and the Torah were in the same place and only the Torah was desecrated, which makes me feel this was an act of hate against the Jewish religion,” Osborne said to the Post.

Reports indicated there was no forced entry into the house.

The Jewish frat house at George Washington University was broken into and its Torah was destroyed.

They ripped the scrolls apart and threw detergent on it.

This isn’t Nazi Germany in 1938.

It’s American college campuses in 2021. pic.twitter.com/l3k5CTeex9

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) October 31, 2021

Sunday evening, hundreds of students gathered outside of the fraternity house to walk to the center of campus “to show unity and strength and be a shoulder to lean on for people who feel directly attacked,” Osborne added.

University President Thomas LeBlanc issued a statement on Sunday about what he called a “deeply disturbing incident.”

“I am appalled by the antisemitic vandalism that occurred at the TKE fraternity house, especially the desecration of the Torah scroll,” LeBlanc said. “I want to be clear: I condemn all such acts of antisemitism and all forms of hatred, discrimination, and bias in our community. Any act of antisemitism is an attack on the entire GW community and cannot, and will not, be tolerated.”

He added that the GW Police Department and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department were investigating the incident.

The Post reported last year that antisemitic crimes reported to the FBI make up more than half of all religion-based bias crimes. However, Jewish people only account for about 2.4 percent of the U.S. adult population.

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