A branch of Emory University’s Student Government Association appears to have vandalized both the Washington University campus and their own campus late Saturday night, and attempted to pass off the attack on Emory as the work of Washington University students.

At Emory, flyers scattered on campus read, “Die Emory Die! Go Wash. U.,” said Geoff Pallay, editor in chief of The Emory Wheel, the university’s student newspaper. Pallay said toilet paper was strewn across trees and dorms.

Here, the underpass between the main campus and South 40 was painted blue and yellow, Emory’s school colors, covering up advertisements by University student groups. The phrases “Wash. U. girls are ugly – Emory University” and “Emory owns U, George Washington is dead” were spray-painted on the underpass.

The incident came two days after The Emory Wheel published an op-ed piece encouraging Emory students to start a “war” with students here. Written by Emory Student Government Association (SGA) Representative Jacob Silverman “on behalf of the SGA Department of War’s Ministry of Propaganda,” the op-ed called upon Emory students “to crush the hubristic Washington University students, to defeat them in sports and academics and research and rhetoric, and wherever they may choose to challenge us.”

Silverman added that Washington University was “a school without identity, down to its hopeless clich‚d mascot (a bear). A school so insecure in its location and stature that it includes its location in its official name.”

In a telephone interview on Sunday, Silverman said that the goal of the editorial was to create a rivalry between the two schools and foster school spirit. Last semester, Emory’s SGA founded an official Department of War branch expressly for that purpose. Silverman said he knew nothing about the vandalism here and seemed to hint that he thought the act of vandalism at Emory was a retaliatory act by Washington University students.

“We think it’s a shame that Emory was attacked, but if it helps to increase the rivalry, so be it,” he said.

An Electronic Paper Trail

E-mails written by Emory SGA members that Student Life obtained reveal a different story. In an e-mail written Friday, an SGA member said, “Y’all [SGA] don’t go lightly on our campus. Everyone should be helping out with this effort. If… this plan is going to work, we really need to make it blatantly obvious that our campus has been brutally trashed.”

“I don’t want any of this sh** published in the paper,” said Zachary Liner, a spokesperson for the SGA’s Department of War, when reached by telephone Sunday afternoon. He did not deny involvement in the vandalism.

Another SGA e-mail, written Sunday afternoon, lauded the vandals at Emory for their effort: “I just want to say that I was SOOOO proud to be part of this group last night…you guys went above and beyond what I had imagined for this covert operation…not only did I have a blast ‘trashing’ our campus, but we ATTACKED it, and it looked amazing.”

Every Emory student Student Life spoke to denied that a group of Emory students traveled to St. Louis to carry out the acts of vandalism on this campus.

But e-mails stretching as far back as last April indicate that SGA students were planning a trip to St. Louis. One Emory student and SGA member, a St. Louis native, wrote on April 26, “This is when being from St. Louis has its advantages…I know the ins and outs of their campus…it’s like a big damn rectangle…besides I can do some recon work when I’m home this summer.”

He added, “p.s. can anyone say road trip next fall? It’s only an 8-10 hour drive [from Atlanta] and I can show you where to have fun in STL.”

Department of War members also indicated to Washington University junior Sara Morris, co-director of Red Alert, that they would be taking a trip to St. Louis this weekend. The Department of War contacted Morris asking to set up a meeting on Saturday. Morris replied that she was willing to meet, but never received a confirmation back from Department of War representatives.

“Some people from the Department of War actually were coming into town,” said Morris. “We’re not sure why. They had said that they had wanted to have a meeting with us [Saturday].”

An e-mail written on Sunday evening seems to indicate efforts to effect a cover-up.

“Just to be totally clear: No one went to St. Louis this weekend.”

While Morris had previously worked with the Department of War to create a friendly rivalry between Emory and Washington University, the painting of the underpass struck her as an inappropriate tactic to use in building such a relationship.

“The way they came across, it was supposed to be friendly banter,” said Morris. “I would understand if they handed out flyers. But the fact that they completely disrespected University property is not right. That’s not really a necessary thing to do.”

The Department of War

Founded in the spring of 2005, Emory SGA’s Department of War began as an effort to begin a rivalry between Emory University and Washington University. According to one member of the group, it was modeled after Washington University’s Red Alert.

“The Department of War’s main purpose is to build up the school spirit on both campuses and have a fun, healthy rivalry,” SGA President Amrit Dhir said. “Wash. U. and Emory are very similar and have a very similar undergraduate population. A lot of students when applying choose between Wash. U. and Emory. Neither have a rivalry. There’s some apathy in terms of school spirit.”

According to an Aug. 19 e-mail, Emory President Jim Wagner was enthusiastic about the idea. “It should be fun,” he wrote.

In that same e-mail, Wagner stated that Chancellor Wrighton “agrees enthusiastically with the notion of creating a special rivalry with Emory as a means to help build spirit at both schools.”

It is unclear, however, whether Wagner knew that the Department of War would be committing acts of vandalism.

According to a Sept. 12 e-mail, Emory Vice President and Deputy to the President Gary Hauk was under the impression that Washington University students would be taking part in “pranking” Emory’s campus. He wrote, “I’ve been told that this coming weekend-probably Saturday night or Sunday morning-some students from Wash. U. plan to ‘attack the campus’…the intention is not to vandalize or do anything inappropriate.”

Nancy Seideman, a spokesperson for Emory University, also indicated that there was an agreement between the two universities’ student governments regarding the “attacks” on campus.

“What happened is apparently that the [student governments], both at Emory and Wash. U., agreed to have some fun,” said Seideman. “This was arranged…to let Wash. U. kids do pranks on campus…and kind of leave their calling card.”

But representatives of Student Union (SU) claim that they did not make any agreement and did not view the “attacks” as improving the relationship between the two campuses. Instead, SU President David Ader was dismayed at the actions that took place in St. Louis and Atlanta.

“If it did come from someone at Wash. U. I’d be disappointed, and if it was from someone from their campus I’d be disappointed,” said Ader.

Ader noted that he did not see the vandalism as a positive step towards building a rivalry between the two schools. He was particularly disappointed that the vandalism on this campus covered up the work student groups put into painting the underpass.

“It’s tough to build school pride by tearing down another school,” said Ader. “My gut feeling is if you want to build school spirit, build it about the school, as opposed to tearing others.”

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