University of Pennsylvania business school fraternity banned for putting up joke posters mocking Israeli hostages
Members of the fraternity were accused of putting up posters that seemingly mocked Israeli hostages captured by Hamas.
Those responsible apologized and said the prank was only ‘a joke to promote veganism.’
A fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school was temporarily banned after it was discovered that it spread posters around campus that seemingly made fun of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas.
The posters in question were originally discovered at the school in November 2023, and bore the message: “Missing Cow: Please let us know how the cow is.” They offered a prize of “a box of chalk and a can of beer,” advertised a “beef dinner,” and offered a contact email of “howsthecow13@gmail.com.” The posters were seemingly modeled as a parody of posters that showcased the faces of Israeli victims who were abducted by Hamas as part of its Oct. 7 terrorist attack.
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The Daily Pennsylvanian, the school’s student newspaper, announced on Tuesday that the University of Pennsylvania has temporarily banned the Wharton chapter of the fraternity Delta Sigma Pi for its alleged responsibility for spreading the posters. The suspension was issued in December 2023.
Those responsible for the howsthecow13@gmail.com email address responded to the controversy when it was first revealed, calling the poster’s layout “an unintentional mistake,” apologizing for anyone who was hurt, saying the posters were “a joke to promote veganism,” and emphasizing that it “condemn[ed] the kidnapping of Israelis that took place and did not mean to allude to that situation.”
The University of Pennsylvania found itself in controversy before because of students’ reactions to the Israeli-Hamas war.
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In October, a group named “Sinwar’s Stick” vandalized parts of the school’s campus with messages glorifying the now-deceased terrorist leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, who was responsible for plotting the Oct. 7 massacre.
In September, the anti-Israel Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine falsely accused the Jewish state of a bombing that occurred in Lebanon a few years prior.
Also in September, activists threw red paint at a statue of Benjamin Franklin at the University of Pennsylvania’s campus as a “visual reminder of the over 186,000 martyrs and the university’s complicity in genocide.”
Campus Reform has reached out to the University of Pennsylvania for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
