SAE Fraternity Members Learned Racist Song At National Leadership Event, University Finds

[brooklynite]

Source: Huffington Post

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon members who were caught on video singing a racist song learned the offensive lyrics at a national fraternity leadership cruise four years ago, the University of Oklahoma revealed Friday.

In a document obtained by The Huffington Post, the university concluded that the students learned the song on a cruise organized by the national SAE office four years ago. Fraternity members brought the racist song back to the OU chapter, the university's investigation found, and over time, it was "taught to pledges as part of the formal and informal pledge process." The document said that the song was widely known and became part of the "institutionalized culture of the chapter."

SAE's national headquarters shut down the University of Oklahoma chapter on March 8, hours after video surfaced showing fraternity members on a bus singing "There will never be a n***r in SAE" to the tune of "If You're Happy And You Know It." The university ordered the students to vacate the fraternity house, which is owned by OU, within two days, and later moved to expel two students identified as having a "leadership role" in the song's usage.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/sae-fraternity-racist-song_n_6956790.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

[iandhr]

1. I am SHOCKED SHOCKED to find gambling going on here.

[ybbor]

16. "Your winnings sir"

"Um, thank you very much"

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. Ruh Roh...

[jwirr]

3. That frat should be shut down totally.

[hatrack]

4. Boy howdee, thats' sum lEEDERSHIP with uh kapital "l'!!!!!!!

[frylock]

5. There will never be a pledge in SAE

adios, bros. you are done, son.

[OKNancy]

6. If anyone heard David Boren the OU President speak out about this today

He and what he said are the Oklahomans I know and love.

[Still Sensible]

11. +1

Us blue folks in this state have to endure plenty of right wing, red neck, tea party bullshit... but there are plenty of good, progressive people in Oklahoma, too. Alas, not enough to elect many democrats any more.

[Chakab]

7. ...and to think, if Waka Flocka had never penned any of his vile rap lyrics,

there would be no institutional racism at the national level of this university.

[geek tragedy]

8. Anyone still doubting that Boren was right to shut that frat down?

I think other expulsions are in high order.

Talk about hostile environment.

On the other hand, it looks like the two who got expelled got expelled for bad luck (being on camera) rather than doing anything that everyone else in their frat wasn't doing.

[dariomax]

9. This makes the national fraternity headquarters look hypocritical and bad

They made it seems as if this were confined to members of the OU chapter only.

This strengthens the case for expulsions.

[Sarcastica]

10. All social frats and sororities are founded on discrimination and promotiing homogeneity.

That's what they are there for. Black and white.

There time has come and have no place on a univeristy campus.

[jwirr]

12. Just a question: Do alumni have any power in contacting our Universities to ask them to get rid

of this frat? I googled "list of SAE fraternities" and was shocked at the number of frats there are. I have two I want to contact - the one I went to in IA and the one in the state I live in MN. Has anyone ever tried to influence a college?

Also many of those colleges are supported by tax money - how are the SAEs funded?

[The Stranger]

14. Now this is getting good.

[arely staircase]

15. surprise

surprise

[Hissyspit]

17. Good thing we live in a post-racial America says Fox.

Bringing this up is RACIST! says every hypocritical right-wing asshole in America.

[byronius]

18. I spent a year as a TKE, and we had an actual gang fight with the SAE chapter there.

Tucson, 1979.

And I can tell you that, although I do not know if there were racists in that SAE chapter, there were none in our TKE chapter. It was not a racist fraternity; no, it was an intensely misogynist fraternity.

Just as bad, just as epidemic. I learned that groups of young males can talk themselves into following the worst impulse of the worst of them. And once it starts, it's fucking awful.

I left. Not a fan of the Greek system, here.

[kwassa]

21. " I learned that groups of young males can talk themselves into following the worst impulse ...

of the worst of them. And once it starts, it's fucking awful. "

You hit the nail on the head. The fraternity system brings out the very worst in people..

[PeoViejo]

19. I see they picked a very simple song for their lyrics

A kindergarten-level tune says something about that Fraternity.

[Scuba]

20. The roll of SAE alum includes some interesting names ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sigma_Alpha_Epsilon_members

List of Sigma Alpha Epsilon members


U.S. Senate

Max Baucus - U.S. Senator from Montana (D), Stanford University
J.C.W. Beckham - Former U.S. Senator from Kentucky (D); youngest Governor of Kentucky; namesake of Beckham County, Oklahoma, Centre College
Jim DeMint - U.S. Senator from South Carolina (R), University of Tennessee
Pete Domenici - Former U.S. Senator from New Mexico (R), University of New Mexico
Peter Fitzgerald - Former U.S. Senator from Illinois (R), Dartmouth College
John J. Hickey - Former Wyoming governor and U.S. Senator (D), University of Wyoming
Johnny Isakson - U.S. Senator from Georgia (R), University of Georgia
Connie Mack III - Former Florida U.S. Senator (R), University of Florida
Larry Pressler - Former South Dakota U.S. Senator (R), University of South Dakota
David Pryor - Former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator (D), University of Arkansas
Mark Pryor - U.S. Senator from Arkansas (D), University of Arkansas
George Smathers- Former U.S. Senator and Congressman from Florida (D), philanthropist, University of Florida
Dennis Chavez - Former U.S. Senator from New Mexico University of New Mexico
Richard Russell - Former US Senator from Georgia University of Georgia

U.S. House of Representatives

Bill Archer - Former U.S. Representative (R), Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, University of Texas at Austin
Andy Barr (U.S. politician) - US Representative from Kentucky (R) University of Virginia
David E. Bonior - Former US Representative from Michigan (D), University of Iowa
Allen Boyd - Former US Representative from Florida (D), Florida State University
Jay Dickey - Former US Representative from Arkansas (R), University of Arkansas
David Dreier - US Representative from California (R), University of La Verne
Hamilton C. Jones - Former US Representative from North Carolina (D) UNC Chapel Hill
Thomas W. Ewing - Former US Representative from Illinois (R), Millikin University
Paul Gillmor - Former US Representative from Ohio (R), Ohio Wesleyan University
J. Alex McMillan - Former US Representative from North Carolina (R), UNC Chapel Hill
Ralph Regula - Former US Congressman from Ohio (R), Mount Union College
John Shadegg - Former US Congressman from Arizona (R), University of Arizona
Charles Walter "Charlie" Stenholm - Former US Congressman from Texas (D), Texas Tech University
Gilbert Brown Patterson - Former US Congressman from North Carolina (D) UNC Chapel Hill

Governors

Sherman Adams - Former Governor of New Hampshire (R); Representative from New Hampshire's 2nd District; White House Chief of Staff, Dartmouth College
Haley Barbour - Former Governor of Mississippi (R); former chairman of the Republican National Committee, University of Mississippi
Joe Foss - Former South Dakota Governor (R); Medal of Honor recipient; leading USMC ace pilot, 1st Commissioner of the AFL, former NRA President, University of South Dakota
William L. Guy - Former North Dakota Governor (D), North Dakota State University
Gary Johnson - Former Governor of New Mexico (L), University of New Mexico
Paul B. Johnson, Jr. - Former Governor of Mississippi (D), University of Mississippi
John Lynch - Former Governor of New Hampshire (D), University of New Hampshire
Sidney S. McMath - Former Governor of Arkansas (D), Marine General & Renowned Trial Lawyer, University of Arkansas
Robert D. Ray - Former Governor of Iowa (R), Drake University
Robert D. Blue - Former Governor of Iowa, Drake University
Brian Sandoval - Current Governor of Nevada University of Nevada


Other Notable Government Officials

Henry M. Paulson - Former U.S. Treasury Secretary, Former CEO of Goldman Sachs Group, Dartmouth College