The President of the United States commended the University of Oklahoma (OU) and its leadership for taking swift, decisive action to combat an incident of racism.
In an exclusive interview with the Huffington Post, Barack Obama spoke on the incident in which some members of OU's Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) were caught on video chanting, "There will never be a n----- at SAE." Obama did not comment publicly at the time, but has now made it clear he was pleased with how the OU community reacted.
"What was heartening was the quick response from [OU] President [David] Boren, somebody who I know well and I know who has great integrity," Obama said.
The video first surfaced on Twitter and Boren had responded to the account that posted it only hours later. The next day, after he had already released two statements on the matter and launched an investigation, Boren held a press conference in which he suspended OU's Kappa SAE chapter indefinitely. Boren also expelled two students found to have participated in leading the chant.
"I don't think this is the first time that somebody at a fraternity has done something stupid, racist, sexist. It won't be the last," Obama told the HP.
He also praised the manner in which OU's student body and community reacted, how both theirs and Boren's seemed to be in concert with one another.
"The way we have to measure progress here is not, 'Is there ever going to be an incident of racism in the country?' It's, 'How does the majority of our country respond?'" Obama said. "And on that front, there's no doubt that the overwhelming number of students at the University of Oklahoma, and around the country, think that kind of behavior is deplorable and don't accept it."
