Sigma Alpha Epsilon's (SAE) chapter at Yale University is accused of holding a Halloween party last weekend at which members only admitted white girls with blonde hair.
A Columbia University freshman named Sofia Petros-Gouin who was visiting a friend at Yale told The Washington Post SAE members were standing on the stoop of the fraternity house telling those waiting to get in: "white girls only." Petros-Gouin also recalled the fraternity members were only admitting girls with blonde hair.
A Yale student named Neema Githere also posted a similar story to her Facebook page on Saturday and indicated the same thing happened last year, attracting more similar stories from others.
Burgwell Howard, Yale's dean of student engagement, told The Yale Daily News he has been meeting with various school and SAE officials in trying to determine what happened.
"If this did happen, and it sounds as if it may [have] - and I'm looking for confirmation on that - what do we do?" Howard said. "If there is a violation of policy, then that would be something that we would refer to the Executive Committee, like any other violation of University policy."
Months after investigating an incident in which its University of Oklahoma chapter was shut down because members were taped shouting a racist chant on a bus, SAE's national office is opening another inquiry for discriminatory behavior.
"Based on preliminary information we have received, law-enforcement officers received a noise complaint and visited the house where members held a social event over the weekend, asking the men to stop admitting guests and to clear the steps and sidewalk. The brothers complied with the direction given to them and halted any additional attendance by guests in order to avoid a citation," SAE said in a statement. "Our chapter at Yale University is comprised of a diverse group of students, and similarly, the social event included a diverse number of attendees. However, we will continue to investigate this allegation to determine additional information."
