A small crowd of people gathered around the two white signs, scrawling messages of past hate and future hope in an array of colors.
Pi Lambda Phi organized its Elimination of Prejudice week, focusing on anti-Semitism due to remarks made on the website Greekrank on Aug. 29. The week lasts from Oct. 15-19, with signs near Woodburn Hall. All donations given this week go to the Elimination of Prejudice Foundation, the fraternity’s national philanthropy.
Sophomore Jake Taylor, PiLam member, said the Elimination of Prejudice Foundation is an educational philanthropic organization that runs discussions and educational programs about prejudice, privilege and oppression.
“When people are really privileged, they don’t see oppression or things other people experience,” Taylor said.
Junior Arthur Gao, PiLam vice president of Elimination of Prejudice, said the remarks made by people on Greekrank and the fraternity’s roots helped spur the decision to focus on anti-Semitism this year.
“It’s kind of an incentive for us to do this anti-Semitic forum,” Gao said. “That’s also our theme for this year’s EOP week.”
According to the fraternity’s website, PiLam was founded in 1895 in response to prejudice. The three founders were blocked from joining other fraternities at Yale University because of their religious and racial background.
“Elimination of prejudice is our main value,” Gao said. “That’s what we believe in and that’s what we build on.”
The Oct. 16 event took place at IU Hillel. IU professor Günther Jikeli led a discussion about anti-Semitism.
In the past, PiLam only did the Wall of Prejudice. But after the group got feedback suggesting the wall came across as too negative, the fraternity started the Wall of Hope as a countermeasure.
The Wall of Prejudice will be smashed at 5 p.m. Oct. 19 in Dunn Meadow, while the Wall of Hope will hang in the chapter’s house. It will be smashed with hammers and mallets. Its smashing is a symbolic destruction, Taylor said.
Senior Ben Axelrod, PiLam member, said the Wall of Hope serves as both a message of solidarity and as a sounding board for the elimination of prejudice.
“The Wall of Prejudice allows people to share things they have witnessed or experienced,“ Axelrod said. “The Wall of Hope is something that we want them to give out ideas of things they want to see changed.”
