Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
First Jewish Chief of Top Fraternity Seeks New Direction After Hazing Deaths
by Shiryn Ghermezian
Sigma Alpha Epsilon logo. Photo: Kansas State University.
The first Jewish president of one of the largest fraternities in the United States made headlines recently for eliminating initiation practices that were linked to hazing deaths, Bloomberg reported recently.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national president Bradley Cohen announced in early March an end to the group’s tradition of pledging, a months-long initiation process where recruits sometimes experience brutal hazing. SAE became one of only a handful of 75 national fraternities to eliminate the practice.
The decision was made the same day JP Morgan Chase & Co. stopped managing SAE funds, saying it was concerned about the fraternity’s bad publicity stemming from 10 member deaths since 2006.
Cohen’s ascension to his position is notable as SAE used to limit membership to “members of the Caucasian race” without a parent who was a “full-blooded Jew,” according to a 1903 book of rituals, Bloomberg said.
Cohen referred to his heritage in making the case for change at the fraternity. “Holding the black volume aloft, Cohen read that passage to his audience at the University of La Verne. When SAE renounced racism and anti-Semitism in 1952, he reminded the crowd, it faced the same complaints that change would ruin the fraternity that traditionalists now make about the pledging ban,” Bloomberg said.
