Members of University of Oklahoma’s disbanded Sigma Alpha Epsilon learned a racist chant on a leadership cruise four years ago, the school’s investigation revealed.
The findings by the Office of Student Affairs expose the chant as “part of the institutionalized culture of the chapter” that was repeatedly taught to pledges during formal and informal ceremonies.
The school’s probe has pressured the national Sigma Alpha Epsilon to investigate its individual chapters for racial overtones, that were also feared to be part of campus life.
The investigation’s results sent to the national fraternity’s leader Blaine Ayers in Illinois said students learned to chant “There will never be a n----r SAE” on a cruise the organization sponsored.
Oklahoma President David Boren said his university would be taking steps to expel some members of their fraternity’s chapter.
He also announced new efforts to improve diversity at a press conference Friday with required diversity training for Oklahoma students next fall and the hiring of a Vice President of Diversity.
The university will discipline 17 members of the chapter caught participating in the racist chant with cultural sensitivity training, community service and been told to apologize to student groups.
Levi Pettit is one of the frat members who has publicly apologized to civil rights leaders over the sing-along.
The boisterous chant shouted as members of the SAE frat rode a bus to its Founder’s Day events in Oklahoma City on March 7 referenced the lynching of black men, a video captured of the chant shows.
The school discovered the video the following day and immediately disbanded the chapter.
Student Affairs also found evidence that fraternity members had been drinking alcohol before boarding the bus.
There were high school students, invited by the chapter for recruitment purposes, also on the bus that heard the chanting.
The investigation did not find evidence the chant was part of the fraternity's national institution and implored Ayers to do an independent inspection