The president of the college and of the national fraternity condemned a video that showed alleged members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Oklahoma chanting racist slurs on a bus. There was silence from the thousands of alumni, with the exception of one whose response could be interpreted as racially insensitive.
“There will never be a n—- SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me,” the young men chanted in the nine-second video where they smiled and clapped along.
SAE was founded in Alabama on March 9, 1856. Its roots trace to the Confederacy, the pro-slavery states that seceded from the union rather than abolish slavery.
The Oklahoma University chapter displayed a Confederate flag, according to the student newspaper, and the fraternity has a long history of questionable conduct resulting in sanctions.
In response to the incident over the weekend, the national fraternity shut the chapter down, and the university president gave SAE members until midnight Tuesday to clear their belongings from the SAE house. Hundreds of students and faculty rallied on campus before dawn on Monday to condemn the behaviour. Someone painted “Tear it Down” on the university SAE house Sunday night.
In an apparent misguided attempt to do good, SAE alumnus Blake Burkhart started a fundraising campaign for the SAE house cook, whom he named only as Howard. A picture on Indiegogo shows a black man smiling, wearing a cook’s cap.
“Because of these kids’ actions, many will be affected. None more so than Howard,” wrote Burkhart. “Those of you who lived in the house, undoubtedly came to love Howard and his infectious smile (if not his chili dogs).”
