Looks like several Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) chapters landed themselves on Hanukkah Harry’s naughty list this year. In the past month, the chapters at the University of Vermont, George Washington University, and the University of Michigan have all been reprimanded for hazing, drinking, and general debauchery.

Most recently, on December 4, an AEPi spokesman announced that the GW chapter would undergo an investigation after a hazing complaint. The spokesman kind of admitted that that allegation involved alcohol (he told The GW Hatchet that he wouldn’t say if there was alcohol, but that “the two often go hand in hand”), but wouldn’t give more detail. “He also declined to say what sanctions the chapter could face, but said the chapter’s charter likely would not be revoked,” the Hatchet reported. Poor GW. Where are all the sorority girls going to find NJBs (nice Jewish boys, duh) in the nation’s capital now?! But at least the chapter is in good company.

On November 7, AEPi at the University of Vermont got into trouble— three of the chapter’s members ended up hospitalized for over-intoxication. The chapter was placed on suspension, but the president didn’t seem too worried about the situation. He told the Vermont Cynic that, “While the suspension is indefinite, we’ve been on probation for two years, so it’s not really changing much.”

Also on November 7, the Michigan Daily reported that its AEPi chapter would be investigated by the national organization on the heels of hazing allegations. In the UMich case, the higher ups were called in after a complaint in an anonymous email. “Sometimes reports like that are credible, and they are trying to protect themselves or trying to maintain some anonymity for fear of repercussions,” The AEPi spokesman told the Daily. He continued, “in other cases, they’re competitive fraternities who are trying to get our fraternity in trouble.” The chapter president has since been removed from his reigning throne, and the University’s Office of Greek Life’s Hazing Task Force has also gotten involved. The result of investigation has not yet been published, but there are certainly a lot of cooks in the chapter house’s kitchen.

Previous: Alpha Epsilon Pi Turns 100 Years Old

(Photo by Mshaolian/Wikimedia)

The post BREAKING: Several AEPi Chapters are Under Investigation appeared first on Jewcy.

Actress Elizabeth Banks, most recently seen in The Hunger Games and Pitch Perfect (which she produced with her husband), sat down with Marc Maron this week for his WTF Podcast, and their conversation was pretty interesting. Banks is sharp and funny and calls the Olsen twins elves. She also opens up about her working-class Catholic upbringing in Pittsfield, MA, and eventual conversion to Judaism.

“So you met a Jew at Penn,” Maron offers a little after the 30 minute (!) mark.

“Yeah, it’s real hard,” she quips. “It’s like, throw a dart.”

There were a few Jewish kids at her high school, she explains, but most of them lived on the other side of town and went to a different middle school, so she didn’t meet them until they got to high school—which meant no bar mitzvahs for her, sadly.

“So how’d you make the ship from Jesus to Jew?” Maron asks at minute 35.

The story is sweet. Banks met Max Handelman, her future husband, her first day at college. They kept running into each other, and one night she ended up at one of his AEPi frat parties. (She says the ZBT guys were douches from Long Island who all work on Wall Street now. Also I love her.) They went on a date to a jazz club in Philly—it was one of her first rides in a taxi—where they drank bourbon and didn’t get carded. She made the first move, “and then it just went from there.”

“Now was there pressure on you to be a Jew?” Maron asks, before calling Banks a “shiksa goddess Jew.” (“People love that when the shiksas come over,” she fires back.)

“No religion meant as much to me as Judaism meant to my husband,” Banks explains. There were also the in-laws. “We got married after 10 and a half years, and for the first five years I’m positive that his father did not learn my last name,” she says. “I’m positive that his dad was like, ‘This is Portnoy’s Complaint…my son will marry a Jewish girl.” (Of course, what they really cared about was the grandkids. “My kids are Jewish, so they’re happy,” she explains.)

She went through the conversion process, studying with different rabbis. “I did not have my mikveh, so technically I’m not converted,” she admits, but it’s only because she was never in L.A. long enough at one time to have done what she calls the 11-week “You’re a Jew now class.” And she’s been practicing Judaism for so long at this point, she explains, that finalizing the institutional process seems more like a needless formality than anything else.

“I’ve been essentially a Jew for like 15 years,” she says. “I haven’t had a Christmas tree in 15 years.”

“But are you like, officially a Jew?” Maron prods.

“I’m not officially stamped, but by all accounts yes,” she explains. “My kids go to Jewish pre-school, we only celebrate Jewish holidays, I love seder.”

“Frankly, because I’m already doing everything, I feel like I’m as Jewish as I’m ever going to be.”

It’s a very Jewish way of thinking, actually. Consider yourself at home, Banks.

Here are some other gems from the interview, which is really, really long, but totally worth it:

• She took Latin for six years: “I was a real nerdball,” she explains.

• She’s a TriDelt.

• She graduated Penn magna cum laude.

• She played Pontius Pilate in a high school performance of Jesus Christ Superstar.

• Her dream rom-com co-star? Channing Tatum: “I would work that.”

Listen to the full podcast here.

The post Jewish Actress Elizabeth Banks Discusses Her Conversion With Marc Maron appeared first on Jewcy.