University of Oklahoma's Sigma Alpha Epsilon Investigation: Tri Delta Cooperating Fully, Not Subjects of Probe
ByThe national Tri Delta organization has announced it will be cooperating fully in the University of Oklahoma's (OU) racist chant investigation.
According to the OU Daily, the school's Theta Gamma chapter clarified they are not the subjects of the university's probe. Tri Delta's statement did not suggest such, but did not make a distinction either.
"We are deeply disappointed by the conduct of the students involved in the incident at The University of Oklahoma," the statement from the national organization read. "Tri Delta expects its members to uphold the highest responsibilities of college women. The behavior documented in the video is deplorable and is in no way consistent with Tri Delta's ideals and core values. We are cooperating fully with our partners at the university as they investigate this matter."
Surfacing first on OU Unheard's Twitter account, the video shows members of the school's Kappa chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity shouting a racist chant indicating black students would never join SAE. The chant also contains references to slavery and lynching.
OU President David Boren responded quickly and decisively by immediately announcing an investigation into who participated, Fox News reported. Boren also seconded SAE's decision to dismiss the Kappa chapter from the campus, giving members who lived in the house until midnight Tuesday to pack up and leave.
OU investigators are currently seeking out individual students from the bus, which was en route to a Founder's Day date party. The investigation is reportedly seeking to determine if students were in violation of the OU student conduct code, Title VI or the Civil Rights Act, Fox News reported. Such violations would undoubtedly result in suspension or expulsion.
But Boren also praised his students' reaction, noting that there had to be students on the bus who wanted to expose the chant and those who were partaking. A second video appeared to show an SAE member noticing the chanters were being filmed and tried to have the recording stopped.
"I was shocked they were just doing it openly on the bus, like they were proud of it," Jared Scarborough, an African-American junior in construction science, told Fox News. "From the chant, you could tell they had done it before. It wasn't a first-time thing. And it was everybody. And the fist-pumping."