National anthem rendition at fraternity party receives national attention
A video gained traction on X, with retweets and likes from politicians and businessmen. Kappa Sigma, who hosted the event, used the momentum to launch a fundraising campaign to repair damaged speakers and sound system equipment.
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“Dunch,” one of Stanford’s most well-known and anticipated parties of the year, made a splash on social media after a video went viral that featured party attendees singing along to the national anthem, loudly enough it drowned out hosting Stanford fraternity Kappa Sigma’s (KSig) loudspeakers.
Andrew Gao ’26 recorded and posted the video to X, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption “Stanford students singing the national anthem at a frat party today” and the American flag emoticon. The video since recieved over 3.5 million views and 6,000 likes, including one from Elon Musk.
Vivek Ramaswamy, an Ohio politician who recently ran for the Republican presidential nomination, reposted the video, with an additional comment: “It’s good to see young people starting to rebel again.” His repost, with 28,000 likes, is currently pinned to the top of his Twitter account.
Some attendees and KSig members said the narrative that fueled the video’s virality was unintentional.
“In many ways, [the video has] kind of been used by the right-wing as a narrative on how college campuses and how the youth are approaching the current political climate,” said KSig pledge Vincent Zhou ’27, who was DJing the party and started his set with the anthem. “For us, it wasn’t really a narrative on that at all.”
“It’s more so a thing of unity,” Zhou said. “There’s so many different people from diverse backgrounds who came to Dunch, people from all sides of the political spectrum, but in that moment it felt like we were united and stood – at least a little bit – on common ground.”
Kappa Sigma (KSig), the fraternity that hosts Dunch every year, has taken this moment of virality, launching a GoFundMe campaign that aims to raise $10,000. According to the campaign, half of the money raised goes towards the local branch of Veterans Affairs, while the other half will support repairs to KSig’s sound system and DJ equipment that was damaged during the event.
The fundraiser follows similar efforts at other universities, as concerns grow over “anti-American” rhetoric on college campuses amid pro-Palestine protests.
Fraternities at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill recently made national headlines when non-affiliated individuals raised over $515,000 in a GoFundMe campaign in their name, after a photo of the University’s fraternity members protecting American flag amid pro-Palestine protests went viral. The organizers issued an update saying that they will create a “transparent independent entity” that oversees the funds, with some donated to charities chosen by the UNC fraternities and the remainder to a party for the students.
Members of KSig were “definitely aware” of the UNC fundraiser, said Akea Pavel ’25, who organized the fraternity’s GoFundMe campaign. “We saw the success it had,” he said, “but we didn’t directly try to emulate what they were doing, we kind of wanted to make it our own.”
Beyond X discourse, the video sparked discussion in spaces like Stanford’s anonymous platform Fizz, as students shared screenshots of Ramaswamy’s repost and Musk’s like. Many pointed out similarities between the KSig and UNC fundraisers.
Students debated what the video captured, with a mixture of jokes and serious commentary.
“End of the day — I’m not in a place to make a definitive statement on the ongoing conflicts,” Zhou wrote. “I played a song, and it was electric. And yet, I acknowledge the greater context in which this story exists and the nuance that comes with it.”
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