The University of Oklahoma (OU) was praised for its swift response to the video of a racist chant that surfaced in early March and now emails from that time show just how swift the response was.
The Huffington Post reported obtaining more than 600 pages of emails detailing how certain OU administrators first became aware of the video of Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) members chanting, "there will never be a n----- at SAE" on a bus. OU President David Boren removed the school's chapter from campus and ordered the members move out of the house immediately.
The emails indicate Boren first learned of the video on the night of Sunday, March 8 while he was hosting a dinner event. That night, a group called OU Unheard tweeted the video with Boren's account tagged in the post. He responded that night on his account with a statement.
Racism is alive at The University of Oklahoma. @President_Boren pic.twitter.com/eAvnPD8jxA
— Unheard (@OU_Unheard) March 8, 2015
If the video is indeed of OU students, this behavior will not be tolerated and is contrary to all of our values. We are investigating. - DBo — David Boren (@President_Boren) March 9, 2015
However, the first tip came the day before when Brandon Oldham, OU's assistant director for student life received an email from an anonymous sender who said they saw the video on Snapchat. Oldham responded just after midnight on March 8 before forwarding the email to Kristen Partridge, OU's assistant dean of students.
After forwarding the email herself, the HP learned, Partridge indicated on Sunday morning she would be looking into the video immediately. By 7 Sunday evening, OU's campus security sent personnel to the SAE house because the video - or news of its contents - was spreading on social media mediums like Yik Yak, Twitter and YouTube.
At 7:40 p.m. on Sunday, the same time OU Unheard posted the video on their Twitter account, the SAE national office notified the OU chapter that they saw the video, requesting a response within 24 hours. The OU Interfraternity Council also opened an investigation at this time.
Though Boren announced the dismissal of the OU SAE chapter, and the potential punishments for students directly involved, in the following days, his mind was made up early on.
"He made an immediate decision about the actions he would take subject to confirmation that OU students were involved and that OU SAE chapter members were on the video," Corbin Wallace, special assistant to Boren, told the HP. "The immediate decision included closing the SAE chapter and throwing it off campus and expulsion to those who were most actively leading the chant on the bus."
