Members of the Alpha Phi (APhi) sorority found “Abolish Stanford Greek” stickers on their cars on Tuesday, just a day after selecting their new pledge class.
The incident comes two weeks after Stanford announced which Greek organizations will be housed on campus for next year and as spring recruitment for both fraternities and sororities comes to a close. The Daily reached out to a representative of APhi, who declined to comment on the situation.
A police report for vandalism incurring charges of less than $400 was filed on Tuesday with the Stanford University Department of Public Safety (SUDPS). There are no suspects linked to the stickering at this time, according to SUDPS spokesperson Bill Larson.
Campus activist group Abolish Stanford Greek (ASG) wrote in a statement to The Daily that the organization “played no role” in the act, adding that the group passes out stickers at tabling events throughout the year. ASG said the group was “upset” to see that members of APhi found anti-Greek life stickers on their cars.
“We strongly condemn this behavior and misuse of our name,” ASG wrote. The organization has since reached out to both ISC and APhi to offer help in removing the stickers.
Inter-Sorority Council (ISC) President Eva Batelaan ’24 declined to comment on the details of the stickering incident, but did reinforce ASG’s message in a statement to The Daily.
“Both organizations (ISC and ASG) agree that there is no place for vandalism and similar discriminatory behavior on Stanford’s campus,” Batelaan wrote. “ISC hopes to build on our current channels of respectful and open dialogue with ASG as to how we can increase transparency and accessibility in the ISC recruitment process and membership experience.”
Batelaan also added that they personally believe that ASG was “not involved in the incident on an organizational level.”
ASG is no stranger to displays of public messaging. During Family Weekend this winter, the group tabled in white plaza, posted flyers across Tresidder Memorial Union and wrote chalk messages across campus with statistics from the ASSU Greek life survey results. The group also frequently hangs fliers and posts messages on social media during Greek life recruitment cycles.
“Our hope is to expand the conversation we started last year by bringing more students and Stanford community members on board with our mission,” ASG wrote in an email to The Daily.
Recently, the group has been focusing on giving underclassmen “all the facts when considering joining a Greek organization, help provide a more balanced perspective on Greek life, reduce some of the peer pressure that surrounds the rush process, and help students find healthier sources of community on campus,” ASG added.
Community dialogue is also a major part of ASG’s mission – particularly with members of Greek organizations. This year, ASG has “separately met with individual fraternity and sorority members, Tri Delta and ISC, to discuss reforms to the recruitment process,” the organization wrote, noting that they would also be open to reform discussions with APhi.
The article has been updated to include the statement from the Inter-Sorority Council President.