The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity chapter at the University of Oklahoma has been shut down after a video of students on a bus, chanting a racist slur surfaced online. The students have also been suspended.
A nine-second video was sent to the Oklahoma Daily, showing male students singing about how black students could not join the fraternity. They mention lynching and refer to black students with a racial slur.
“The OU Interfraternity Council does not tolerate any of the behavior shown in the video,” Interfraternity Council President Payne Parker first tweeted after the video surfaced late Sunday. Later, the national office for the fraternity sent out a statement, confirming that the OU chapter was shut down immediately.
“This type of racist behavior will not be tolerated and is not consistent with the values and morals of our fraternity,” the statement reads in part. “We have more than 15,000 collegiate members across the nation, and this incident should not reflect on other brothers because this type of hateful action is not what Sigma Alpha Epsilon stands for. This is absolutely not who we are.”
According to USA Today, the video was first posted online by a black student OU group.
After the chapter was shut down, the SAE building appeared to be vandalized, with “Tear It D” written on the side. Two members also told The Daily that they received death threats Monday morning.
OU President David Boren tweeted that the university is investigating the video and called the behavior “reprehensible and contrary to all of our values.”
screenshot from Unheard Movement YouTube video