Of course that’s disgraceful and no excuse.
Btw, doesn’t Kanye West have a new song out which repeats that word? Oh, that’s art.
Horrible. University of Oklahoma has moved from top 5 to last. These guys are a disgrace to the definition of “brotherhood.” I hope all students that were chanting get expelled.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/09/us/fraternity-closed-at-oklahoma-after-video-of-racist-chant.html
Doesn’t sound like Kanye to me.
Unbelievable. It’s almost like they staged it.
Only a few weeks ago our local thespians were treating us to rousing choruses of “Oklahoma!” which included songs like “The Farmer and The Cowman”, “All Er’ Nuthin”, “I Cain’t Say No” and even “It’s a Scandal! It’s a Outrage!”, but this incident casts new light on the words “Plen’y of room to swing a rope!”
@Pizzagirl, as an AA I don’t like it when Kanye says it either. BTW, if you listen to the clip, it say’s something about you may see a * hanging from a tree but you will not see them at SAE. That is no way acceptable and I don’t care who else says it. It’s ignorant.
As I was thinking about this situation this morning, I hope parents will not eliminate OU because of this event. If you have a child that is planning on going to OU, let them go. If they feel this was wrong, let them go to OU and fight againt this hatred. Let your student stand up and fight this ignorance.
If your child was a crusader and they felt it was worthwhile to fight against this hatred, would they have to join a Greek organization to do it?
It’s up to them if they would want to join a greek organization.I think someone could make change inside or outside of the Greek organization.
Of course it’s up to them. If they tried to make change from without, wouldn’t they look like just another outsider who didn’t “get it”?
Kanye West is no sage of African-American culture. As President Obama aptly said, “Kanye West is a jackass!” So let us just ignore Mr. West and leave it at that.
@pizzagirl, are you really defending the lyrics because you’ve heard blacks say the n-word? Those Kanye lyrics, however ignorant and “jackassy” are not the context of lynching and discrimination. I believe that even if you substitute the n-word with AA, for example, the message is still appalling. Or do you find this more appropriate?
“There will never be an AA in SAE.
There will never be aan AA in SAE.
You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me
There will never be an AN in SAE.”
Glad to see the National SAE organization shut the group down. Looks like OU is also going to take some action.
Basically everyone at OU condemns this fraternity and their abhorrent beliefs. Personally my sorority never uses race as a factor in determining whether a member gets a bid. Additionally, I’ve begun the process of creating a Greek specific diversity training program similar to [Sooner Ally](http://www.ou.edu/studentlife/diverse_communities/lgbtq/greek-ally.html) so as to make sure that the University of Oklahoma remains an institution firmly rooted in the 21st century.
If you’re a prospective student who will now reject OU because of the SAE video, please reconsider.
Let me first say that I find the behavior of these young men in the fraternity absolutely unacceptable and abhorrent! Words can not begin to express my disappointment and anger. While the swift actions of the national fraternity to pull the chapter charter and the university to come out against this behavior is encouraging, but it does not “fix” the underlying problem. Unfortunately, college campuses are a reflection of our society in general. If students and parents were to remove every college from their list that has had some kind of anti-Semitism, cyberbullying, heterosexism, Islamophobia, racism, sexism, or sexual harassment/misconduct of some kind of in the last 5 years, they might have difficulty finding any place in which to enroll in college. We must all work together–on a daily basis-- by first teaching our own children (and their friends) tolerance and to embrace diversity. If we teach our children well and we role model for them, they can and they will change not just behavior on college campuses but of the world!
“Btw, doesn’t Kanye West have a new song out which repeats that word? Oh, that’s art.”
Kanye Jackass West’s old songs are bad enough. I doubt if any new song he writes/sings will change my very low opinion of his creativity.
I read in one of the news articles about this that SAE can no longer get mainstream insurance as a company. They have to pay special (high) rates at Lloyd’s of London. I remember from my own college days that SAE got a nickname “Sexist A****les Every-one” after they demonstrated in favor of rape (yes, really) at a women’s rally. They wore their letters and carried signs saying “no big deal” and “she wanted it” and probably others that I don’t even remember at this point.
So, while this story is disturbing, sadly it is not surprising. And as said above, college culture is often a reflection of general culture, so punishing this fraternity is necessary, but not sufficient.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/university-of-oklahoma-sigma-alpha-epsilon-racist-fraternity-video.html
Two of the students were suspended.
Suspended, or expelled? I read that it was the latter.
If anything, I would expect this should improve someone’s willingness to go to OU. The University acted quickly and justly. SAE is a generic fraternity. They have chapters at almost every college that allows fraternities. They are generally disliked by other fraternities and non-Greeks alike (in my experience). Even SAE shut their own chapter down (though I must say they are not much different at other campuses)
Ultimately, this is less about racism and more about rich college boys being idiots. The racial tone was awful, but judging by the outcry by nearly everyone on campus, any racial bias is fairly narrowly held and likely exists at any campus in the US.