CF- The stated reason was creating a hostile campus environment and is grounded on the fact that the two expelled students held leadership positions. I agree it’s a stretch and also that it’s a PR move because he wanted to do something. And, also that it may or may not stand up if challenged.
I think that’s an impermissible stretch UNLESS the SAE members and/or “dates” on the bus were circulating the video on campus and African-American and other black students saw it and felt threatened. If @consolation is right–please see my post 182, Consolation–and someone took the video thinking it was “hilarious” or whatever and started circulating it and an African-American student saw it and felt intimidated by the reaction of others around him/her who thought it was “funny,” then I think Boren’s position could be defended.
It would still be a stretch unless the idiots who did the chanting circulated the video among their friends on campus.
The conductor’s private Jesuit high school outed him: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2988273/Parker-Rice-identified-conductor-Oklahoma-SAE-racist-chant.html
The story goes on to provide information about the student’s father and his business. I do feel bad for the dad and the younger brother still at the high school.
The students really have no choice but to sue. With an expulsion, they won’t be able to get into another university to complete their degrees. I suspect that FIRE will take the case and the settlement will be private with the students not getting any sort of mark on their records. Then they will elect to go elsewhere to finish their degrees.
@Much2learn Yesterday at 5:43 pm
" However, that does not necessarily mean that the students can’t be expelled if the students actions create a hostile environment for other students. I am sure that University attorneys are considering that question. I think that the lynching reference in the song may well be deemed to create a hostile environment."
Hey, I sniffed this out yesterday! Even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while.
Here is the letter he sent to the students he expelled:
http://ftpcontent.worldnow.com/griffin/NEWS9/PDF/0603/OUExpulsion.pdf
Boren is suggesting they can file a complaint with the EEOC office.
Even if the expulsions don’t stand up in court, the University President will just shrug and move on. By that time, the kids involved will have moved on and IF the action is found to be unjust, nothing will change what happened and the president will not be held accountable. I was most shocked about the eviction of the whole fraternity from their house. Some of those members undoubtedly had nothing to do with this incident but are now homeless. If Norman is like any other college town, it will be impossible for them to find a place to live for the rest of the semester and possibly too late to find a place for Fall either. They have been effectively expelled too.
I am also troubled by the lack of consistency in this action compared to other incidents we have seen around the country. There is no indication that the fraternity members intended any African American to view this video or that they intended, let alone carried out any physical harm to persons or property. Yet the anti-Semitic violence popping up on college campuses, involving real damage to property and persons, is being met by calls from University admins for “more understanding” and “tolerance” not by expulsions and pubic naming of the offenders. How can we applaud today’s action of the UofO admin and not vilify the non-action, for example of the University of Michigan administration or that of UCLA or UC-Davis in response to anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism? Or UC-SB where a faculty person physically assaulted a Christian demonstrator on campus?
@nrdsb4, Thanks for posting the quotes. Some of them to me seem to be just reporting on the story (for instance what the Pres of the Univ is saying or speculating on what the uni might do. OTOH, other posts seem to me to be concluding what they have done may be punishable.
I now see that two students have been expelled and while I don’t agree with that decision by the university, they have every right bring suit. As SCOTUS has already placed limitations on freedom speech in public schools it is not necessarily a slam dunk for the plaintiffs.
FIRE seems to be a very worthwhile organization upholding First Amendment rights on campus. I’ve been reading some news articles about cases they have filed. One campus actually punished a student for passing out copies of the US Constitution on Constitution Day!
Boren seems willing to take some heat for this:
I am in awe of Sen David Boren’s swift actions. If we had more leaders like him, racism would have been gone long ago, instead of festering in hidden corners.
@gobluemom85 I agree that these other incidents are concerning. However, the OU President has to do this because he is the top story nationally in the last 24 hours. The U of M President has not been in that position. That means that President Boren has to take decisive action. If the decisions get overturned in the courts later, that is okay. Right now everyone is watching what he does, and he needs to take a stand.
In other words, Boren was willing to blatantly violate the Constitutional rights of the students–as the University counsel was assuredly telling him he was doing–because the PR risk of not doing something was greater for him personally. Some educator. Some role model. I guess the oath he took when a Senator to uphold the Constitution doesn’t mean anything to him now.
Remember the students of SAE will pay in non-public ways. Do you believe any will receive a letter of recommendation for medical, law or other post UG school.
If any members are part of any ROTC program, I believe there will be an investigation to determine their suitability to continue and be commissioned. One Penn State ROTC cadet lost his chance to be commissioned once his face was seen on a video overturning a car when Penn State fired Paterno.
One thing that I struggle with regarding the expulsion of the chant leaders, is that they were not teaching the others the chant. While the knee jerk reaction is to suspend the chant leaders, I would be more inclined to suspend the SAE members on the bus who were in positions of authority. It well could be for example that the chant leaders are freshmen who are told or taught what to do by the fraternity leadership. I am not excusing the chant leaders, but rather pointing out that the leaders should not get off by delegating their dirty work to underclassmen.
Oh, boo hoo, kids who joined a racist fraternity full of racists aren’t going to get job recommendations. What a pity.
I share Hunt’s concern about the free speech issues as far as expulsion. But as for the kids in the frat, lie down with dogs, get up with fleas.
The university probably had some sort of lease with the local chapter of SAE. That lease would have been dissolved when the local chapter ceased to exist, wouldn’t it?
Wow. Do you happen to have a link to that one handy?
We don’t know which two students were expelled.
“I guess the oath he took when a Senator to uphold the Constitution doesn’t mean anything to him now.”
State legislatures continually pass laws which one can see are blatantly unconstitutional. Doesn’t stop them one bit. iI’m sure they must take an oath to uphold not only the US Constitution but their state’s constitution. Congress has also passed laws which have been found to be unconstitutional.