University of North Carolina student Brendan Rosenblum joined NewsNation on Wednesday after a video of him and his frat brothers protecting an American flag on campus during a protest went viral and hundreds of thousands were crowdfunded for the college students.
Rosenblum, a member of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, spoke with Leland Vittert for On Balance about his efforts on Tuesday. Protesters took down an American flag flying at half-staff to honor fallen police officers in the state and put up a Palestinian flag. The American flag was returned to its place, but when protesters tried grabbing for it again, a group of young men can be seen surrounding it. Rosenblum can also, at one point, be seen holding the Israel flag while debris and water bottles are thrown at him from the crowd.
“These people wanted to take down the flag, and we were there to protect it. And it was important that I stood there with the Israeli flag because Israel and America work side by side. Our values are very similar, and we feel protected in both of these nations, and it’s important that we stand together,” he said.
Rosenblum added that fraternities “get a bad rap.”
“Fraternity members get a bad rap, but in the end, we have a brotherhood and a belief of who we are,” he said. All of us felt that America and the American flag and, for me, the Israeli flag represented what we believe in. And we weren’t going to let anyone stop us from keeping those two things up and representing for what we believe in.”
Campus protests have intensified across the country in recent days, with police intervening in states like New York and Georgia. Dozens were arrested at a Columbia University protest this week where activists occupied an administrative building that police eventually cleared. Students are demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and that their schools divest completely from Israel amid the country’s strikes on Gaza.
A GoFundMe was set up for Rosenblum and others seen in the video. It was set up with a goal of $350,000 and has nearly reached its goal.
“Commie losers across the country have invaded college campuses to make dumb demands of weak University Administrators,” the crowdfunding page reads.
It promises to help throw a “rager” for the frat brothers.
“There’s some irony here, right, because it’s the fraternities on campus, admittedly, I was a member of one that did not necessarily have the greatest reputation, that that always get a bum rap and they’re the ones always causing problems,” Vittert said on Wednesday. “And you guys are the ones taking a stand on this when nobody else will.”
“It’s insane. And I’m not going to speak on what we’re going to do with the with the money,” Rosenblum said. “All I can say that as a fraternity and everyone who was there appreciates the support and appreciates the support of our values and what we believe in because we were there for you.”
Watch above via NewsNation.
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