On Friday morning between 3:16 and 3:20 a.m., two swastikas were painted on the walls of Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s fraternity house and various slurs and other symbols were painted onto eight cars in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon parking lot, IU Police Department Capt. Andy Stephenson said.
On the same morning, two cars were painted with swastikas and a BMW hood ornament was stolen in the Sigma Nu parking lot, Sigma Nu junior Michael Breunig said.
Sigma Nu freshman Michael Jacobucci saw a figure behind a car in the Sigma Nu parking lot early Friday morning, but he said he thought it might be a tree or a pole. However, after moving closer, he realized it was a person with a can of spray paint.
Jacobucci said he yelled for anyone else in the house to come outside and the person with the spray paint ran away.
The crimes at the two fraternity houses may or may not be related, Stephenson said.
Between $5,000 and $10,000 dollars in damage was done to the SAE house, IUPD said in a press release.
“This was not exactly a great way to start our morning,” SAE President Andrew Cowie said as another member of the fraternity walked by with a bucket of paint.
The brothers planned to buy paint to cover the damage to the house, which was being temporarily covered by sheets, Cowie said. He said most of the vandalized cars had already been taken to be detailed and repaired.
“The swastikas make it seem as though it might be some sort of hate crime, but we don’t think that’s the case,” Stephenson said. “With the diversity of the people in the house, there doesn’t appear to be any particular person or group targeted and the cars seemed to be selected at random.”
If there was any reason the cars were chosen for vandalism, it seemed to be based on value, Stephenson said. Many of the vandalized cars were more expensive.
“I don’t think they could have tried to target specific people,” Breunig said. “It’s not like they could have known whose cars they were spray painting.”
The crime took place on the first night of Passover.
“Indiana University does not tolerate acts of hate or bias, and all members of the IU community are expected to treat others with dignity,” IUPD said in the press release. “Acts such as this, especially around the important holiday of Passover, are antithetical to our values, and we condemn them.”
IU Student Association also released a statement on the crime.
“As students and faculty prepare to celebrate Passover, we were appalled to learn of the heinous, anti-Semitic acts that occurred last night along Jordan Avenue,” IUSA said in the statement. “We condemn last night’s actions and hope that every student and student group does the same.”
The Evans Scholars house, which sits at the address between Sigma Nu and Sigma Alpha Epsilon on Jordan Avenue, was not vandalized.
There is no suspect in the crime so far, Stephenson said.
IUPD encourages anyone with information regarding the crime to contact them at 812-855-4111.
