As demonstrators protesting against the Israel-Hamas war clashed with law enforcement, community members and others near Polk Place on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday, members of a fraternity seemed to take matters into their own hands.
The group of mostly young men — some apparently members of the Pi Kappa Phi and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternities — were photographed holding the U.S. flag off the ground after it had been removed by protestors and replaced with a Palestinian one. The images from the scene went viral. A social media post from Guillermo Estrada – who says in his X profile that he is set to graduate from UNC in 2027 – garnered more than 5.2 million views. A photo of the scene was shared by North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd, too.
On Wednesday, a GoFundMe was started by John Noonan with the title: “Pi Kappa Phi Men Defended their Flag. Throw 'em a Rager.”
A description for the fundraiser referred to protesters as “commie losers” and an “unwashed Marxist horde,” while painting the ones who held up the U.S. flag as “a platoon of American heroes” and “triumphant Brohemians ... fueled by Zyn and White Claws.”
Soon, the fundraiser gained steam on social media, too, shared and amplified by country singer John Rich, former Secret Service agent turned right-wing political commentator Dan Bongino, and even former Tar Heels’ men’s basketball coach Matt Doherty. Rich volunteered to perform a concert at the party – publicly reaching out to Estrada – and Bongino said he would do a live broadcast of his show from it.
Next round on me, boys. @PiKappaPhi @UNC https://t.co/P4peWjiAjG pic.twitter.com/PDY9QGIXoC
— Mike Collins (@MikeCollinsGA) May 1, 2024
By 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the GoFundMe had raised north of $485,000 from more than 14,800 donors. Three donors — identified on the site as John Clark, Adam Sinn, and William Ackman — donated $10,000 each. A Republican congressman from Georgia, Mike Collins, donated $125.
But several things remain unclear about the fundraiser.
In an email to WUNC on Thursday, UNC-Chapel Hill’s Pi Kappa Phi chapter said they didn’t know who the organizer John Noonan was.
“We do not know John Noonan and we have been attempting to get in contact with him,” the fraternity wrote. “Susan Ralston was added as a beneficiary last night, and we also do not know who she is.”
Ralston has a deep background in Republican politics, having worked for nearly six years in the George W. Bush White House as a special assistant to the president and deputy to Karl Rove, a senior advisor to Bush and later the deputy chief of staff. She resigned from the Bush administration in 2006 following a report that she had served as a conduit between Rove and lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Recently, Ralston founded Citizens for Responsible Solar, which – according to a 2023 NPR story – has been known to stoke “opposition to solar projects by spreading misinformation online.”
In an attempt to reach Ralston, WUNC emailed Citizens for Responsible Solar, which was not immediately returned. Representatives from GoFundMe also did not immediately respond to WUNC’s questions.
Noonan is a former advisor to Republican Sen. Tom Cotton on military and defense affairs. He now works for Polaris National Security, which bills itself as “a non-profit organization that advocates for American interests and security in the face of global threats.” An email from WUNC to Polaris was not immediately returned.
Like Ralston, Noonan also has deep Republican political ties, having worked as a national security advisor to Jeb Bush's 2016 campaign for president, and as defense policy advisor to Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential run. Noonan was a Fall 2018 fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics. A U.S. Air Force veteran, he has also written for the National Review. His X account turned private on Wednesday.
Brendan Rosenblum, a junior and Jewish student at UNC-Chapel Hill, had water bottles thrown at him as he stood in the middle of the quad by with an Israeli flag while protesters tried to replace an American flag with a Palestinian one. Classes today have just been cancelled. pic.twitter.com/hUkPTXtLxj
— Bryan Anderson (@BryanRAnderson) April 30, 2024
In an email sent to WUNC on Thursday night, Noonan said the fundraiser “started as a modest request to buy a few kegs for some great young guys (that) has ballooned into an American cultural moment.” He also took ownership of the fundraiser, saying it was started independently — despite the use of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity name in its headline.
"We aren’t (fraternity) brothers ourselves: just Americans who admire young people like the men of UNC fraternities — members from at least eight different houses, by our count, many of whom we’ve now met," Noonan said. "An independent entity that will include a board of directors, as well as representation from the fraternity organizations themselves, is in the process of being established to keep true to donor intent."
Noonan said the campaign plans to stop accepting donations at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. The plan then, Noonan said, is to use the money on “a killer party and give to some great charities.”
"With graduation just around the corner, final exams in full swing, and continued drama on campus, we think it is best to take our time and plan this right," Noonan said. "We've had our fun over the past 24 hours."
A spokesperson for GoFundMe told the Raleigh News & Observer on Thursday that a member of its “Trust & Safety Team” had reached out to the organizer for more information. “All funds remain safely held by our payment processors during this process,” GoFundMe’s Cornell Wedge told the N&O. The N&O also reached Ralston, who “acknowledged being asked by GoFundMe organizers to plan the fraternity party” but declined to comment further.
A national Pi Kappa Phi spokeswoman told the N&O that it did not set up the fundraiser and is not endorsing it.
John Pierce, a spokesperson for Alpha Epsilon Pi International Fraternity, told WUNC that the national office has not heard from any of the fundraiser organizers.
“The money for that has gone crazy,” Pierce said. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years and I’ve never seen anything like it. My understanding is that there are members of our fraternity and the other (Pi Kappa Phi) in that photograph.”
Pierce said if Alpha Epsilon Pi receives any of the money raised, it will go towards their international philanthropies supporting Jewish and Israeli causes.
In contrast to the fraternity fundraiser, a GoFundMe for “Support for UNC Palestine Encampment Arrestees” had raised more than $40,000 from 700 donors as of Thursday evening. It was started by Duke Academics for Justice in Palestine. Police arrested 30 people on Tuesday near Polk Place, most of whom were not students.
