University of Oklahoma SAE Fraternity Closed After Racist Video

[okatty]

Anyone seen the OU SAE racial video? OUCH.

Video appears to show University of Oklahoma fraternity singing racist chant | KFOR.com

[ljbab728]

Anyone seen the OU SAE racial video? OUCH.

Video appears to show University of Oklahoma fraternity singing racist chant | KFOR.com

That certainly happened when I was in a frat at OU in the late sixties but I'm surprised that it could still happen today.

[Pete]

The SAE's were kicked off campus for terrible hazing and other issues in the 80's and then allowed to return.

They'll get in deep trouble for this and well they should. Ridiculous in this day and age.

That looks like a party bus taking them and their dates to a remote site. It's common for winter/Christmas formals.

[adaniel]

That certainly happened when I was in a frat at OU in the late sixties but I'm surprised that it could still happen today.

You are?

With all due respect, I never hear about racist chants or rape-themed parties from the campus chess club or business society.

This video is making my blood boil. I am trying to convince two kids I know to attend OU. How stupid do I look as a person of color trying to convince them to go there right now? OU is trending on twitter and I'm sure this will be all over the national news tomorrow.

[Pete]

As I said, it looked like that was a party bus of SAE's and their dates going to or from somewhere. Probably heading back home, intoxicated.

And I suspect the video was taken and posted by one of the women on the bus who was appalled.


I was in a fraternity at OU and we had similar (non-racial but vulgar and profane) songs we called basement songs. We'd have keggers in the house basement and pledges would be taught the songs through that experience.

So, it seems this is one of the SAE's basement songs and in a fit of drunkenness, they started to regale while being too wasted to think better.

Which also means they've been singing it in private for decades.

[Urbanized]

Incredibly embarrassing to the University and to the entire state, if in fact these are OU kids. Only reinforces bigoted stereotypes that people elsewhere have about Oklahomans (which are for the most part completely undeserved). Makes my blood boil too, because people around the country won't interpret this as an isolated incident with a few stupid, STUPID kids; they'll see all Oklahomans when they watch this video.

A University ban of the SAE house and suspensions aren't enough. These children should be permanently expelled from OU.

[ljbab728]

You are?

With all due respect, I never hear about racist chants or rape-themed parties from the campus chess club or business society.

This video is making my blood boil. I am trying to convince two kids I know to attend OU. How stupid do I look as a person of color trying to convince them to go there right now? OU is trending on twitter and I'm sure this will be all over the national news tomorrow.

With all due respect, yes I am surprised that this could be happening today no matter what kind of organization it is.

[Pete]

At least one of those guys is clearly identifiable.

I predict the SAE's will be banned (I'm sure the fraternity itself chartered that bus -- that's what we always did) and some of those dudes are expelled.

Flipping idiots.

[ljbab728]

As I said, it looked like that was a party bus of SAE's and their dates going to or from somewhere. Probably heading back home, intoxicated.

And I suspect the video was taken and posted by one of the women on the bus who was appalled.


I was in a fraternity at OU and we had similar (non-racial but vulgar and profane) songs we called basement songs. We'd have keggers in the house basement and pledges would be taught the songs through that experience.

So, it seems this is one of the SAE's basement songs and in a fit of drunkenness, they started to regale while being too wasted to think better.

Which also means they've been singing it in private for decades.

We also had "basement" songs in the 60's and I remember at least one of them that had a very racial line in it. I'm embarrassed that I ever participated in that but it was expected then. When you're in a frat a lot of it is about conformity and fitting in no matter what that may entail.

[Pete]

I was a DU at OU from '78 to '82 and I know we didn't have any racial lines, but the songs were beyond vulgar.

We did, however, have an elderly housemother from Alabama who only referred to African Americans by the n-word. I hated it and everyone else did too, but she still did it openly and frequently.

The irony is that she was an expert on etiquette and I still remember and carry many of her lessons we were forced to endure.

Just shows how messed up the Southern culture was back in her day where people went to extreme measures to be 'proper', then had such contempt and hatred for people of color.

[venture]

We also had "basement" songs in the 60's and I remember at least one of them that had a very racial line in it. I'm embarrassed that I ever participated in that but it was expected then. When you're in a frat a lot of it is about conformity and fitting in no matter what that may entail.

Part of me is very grateful I skipped all of that nonsense. Some speak very highly about the experience, but more often than not the people I knew that were part of them were world class douches that were terrible people. So sad though because they could do a world of good.

Protest on campus tomorrow morning should be interesting.

[LocoAko]

Part of me is very grateful I skipped all of that nonsense. Some speak very highly about the experience, but more often than not the people I knew that were part of them were world class douches that were terrible people. So sad though because they could do a world of good.

Protest on campus tomorrow morning should be interesting.

Yep.

Second video has surfaced, too - https://instagram.com/p/z_ilNau41L/

And plenty of discussion about the SAE chapter at UT having a similar song with some lyrics changed. ATXthrowaway1212 comments on Just some utexas fraternity pledge rules

I don't think incidents like this are anywhere near as isolated as people want to think. SAE just got "caught". Total black eye for the University. Shameful.

[Pete]

Part of me is very grateful I skipped all of that nonsense. Some speak very highly about the experience, but more often than not the people I knew that were part of them were world class douches that were terrible people. So sad though because they could do a world of good.

Protest on campus tomorrow morning should be interesting.

I was a reluctant frat boy. Never planned to join but tagged along in rush with friends and ended up finding a group of guys I really liked, and I had a great experience.

I'm proud to say our house GPA was over 3.0 and most the guys were great students and we all helped each other out. Tremendously helpful to get guidance from the older group and then give the same as you progressed through school. A lot of our guys held positions of leadership on campus.

I ended up being President and served on the alumni board for years before I moved to California.

I'm best man in a fraternity brother's wedding in April and his other two honor attendants were also in the same frat. It's safe to say, I got far more out of the experience than I ever expected.


Having said all that, the time for fraternities may have passed. When I was in school, drinking age for beer was 18 so at least it wasn't illegal to drink at frat parties. But now, very few seniors live in the house (most get an apartment by that time) so you have a house full of under-21 guys who can't party without breaking the law.

Plus, bad publicity like this -- like said up-thread -- does not come out of the Chess Club.

[LocoAko]

As I said, I can almost sure you that exact song has been sung among them for decades.

That's how basement songs work.

House has now been vandalized and members have reported receiving death threats. Yikes.

https://twitter.com/danabranham/stat...677440/photo/1

[ljbab728]

Part of me is very grateful I skipped all of that nonsense. Some speak very highly about the experience, but more often than not the people I knew that were part of them were world class douches that were terrible people. So sad though because they could do a world of good.

Protest on campus tomorrow morning should be interesting.

Actually I wouldn't say that about most of the people that were in my frat. There were certainly some like that, but no more than I have encountered in other areas. I think that overall it was a beneficial experience for me. It's not for everyone though.

[ljbab728]

As I said, I can almost sure you that exact song has been sung among them for decades.

That's how basement songs work.

That's very true. It's usually all about tradition with things that have been handed down for decades. Sometimes traditions are finally ready to be broken, however.

A little of the current topic is that one of our very strange traditions was that after the evening meal we would take all of the left over dinner rolls outside and throw them at the sorority house across the street. I have no idea what that was about but we did it because it was expected.

[ljbab728]

It appears that immediate action is being taken.

University of Oklahoma fraternity under investigation after videos of racist chant are posted online | NewsOK.com

The fraternity’s national headquarters in Evanston, Ill., reported it is disbanding the university’s chapter in response to the racist video.

In an email statement, Boren said they will be addressing the situation “very quickly.”

“If the reports are true, the chapter will no longer remain on campus,” the statement said.

[PhiAlpha]

As I said, it looked like that was a party bus of SAE's and their dates going to or from somewhere. Probably heading back home, intoxicated.

And I suspect the video was taken and posted by one of the women on the bus who was appalled.


I was in a fraternity at OU and we had similar (non-racial but vulgar and profane) songs we called basement songs. We'd have keggers in the house basement and pledges would be taught the songs through that experience.

So, it seems this is one of the SAE's basement songs and in a fit of drunkenness, they started to regale while being too wasted to think better.

Which also means they've been singing it in private for decades.

This is in no way an SAE basement song. I was a member of SAE at OU and lived in the house for four years through 2010 and served in the leadership for several of those years. Rest assured we had many basement drinking songs that were inappropriate for other (none racist) reasons, but nothing like this. On the way back from our Founder's Day Party during my time there, we sang several 150 year old fraternatiy songs about brotherhood, etc with a few of the "dirty" ones mixed in, but again...nothing this disgusting and racist. This is the first time I've ever heard that chant and many of the alumni and I are in agreement that the national fraternity was more than justified in shutting the house down for a few years. The house has gone downhill over the last year or two. This is the apex of that and has, in an unfortunately public and hurtful way, forced a mandatory and necessary restart.

Having said that, everyone is currently being forced to move out of the house as we speak, many of them I'm sure with no where to go (at least in Norman). While the actions of a few idiots were certainly ridiculous, there are many students out of the 150 active members in the chapter that are good and decent human beings that had nothing to do with what happened yesterday (that was one of 5 buses of students along with several hundred alumni that attended that party). While that group of idiots certainly deserve this, there are many students in the house that do not and are going suffer the same consequences. The innocent parties in this have also been receiving the same death threats and hateful comments that the guilty have when again, they had nothing to do with it. Additionally, the fraternity chef/cook who has been with the house for the last 20 years is Jamaican-American. We all love the guy to death (which pisses me off even more when I watch this video) and as an ironic consequence of nationals closing the house, he will be out of job starting tomorrow. So while everyone certainly has a right to be pissed about this (As an alum , I certainly am), please don't lump all of us under one umbrella due to the comments of one group of idiots in one generation of the Oklahoma Chapter of SAE.

Here is the press release from Nationals: http://www.sae.net/oklahoma

[PhiAlpha]

As I said, I can almost sure you that exact song has been sung among them for decades.

That's how basement songs work.

Again, if it was, it skipped the four and a half years that I was an active member and the years prior to that that I was involved as a legacy. I can't speak for what has gone on through the 3 other generations of my family that went through the SAE house in Norman, but certainly can vouge for my experience there.

[gopokes88]

What a bunch of ignorant fools. However, sending people death threats over this is over the top.

I find it interesting that the absolute worst crime a white male can commit is being racist and a slightly lesser extent sexisest. Nothing causes an outrage quite like those two things. This kid will pay for it more then if he had driven home drunk and killed someone. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just an observation about what gets society into an outrage.

[PhiAlpha]

You are?

With all due respect, I never hear about racist chants or rape-themed parties from the campus chess club or business society.

This video is making my blood boil. I am trying to convince two kids I know to attend OU. How stupid do I look as a person of color trying to convince them to go there right now? OU is trending on twitter and I'm sure this will be all over the national news tomorrow.

I definitely share in your disgust but in reference to my previous post you'll have to take my word for it that this did not occur when you went to school there nor when I did. As a landman you likely work or have worked with several SAE alumni and I hope that you don't lump us all in with this group of idiots.

Also, sorry that SAE is likely going to affect how your friends perceive OU. That is really unfortunate. Hopefully the swift action of the University and National fraternity in dealing with this as well as the student body as a whole's reaction to it will make them appreciate the type of school OU really is. The actions of a few do not represent the feelings of the whole.

[PhiAlpha]

What a bunch of ignorant fools. However, sending people death threats over this is over the top.

I find it interesting that the absolute worst crime a white male can commit is being racist and a slightly lesser extent sexisest. Nothing causes an outrage quite like those two things. This kid will pay for it more then if he had driven home drunk and killed someone. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just an observation about what gets society into an outrage.

The irony is that this will likely get more national publicity and outrage than when Blake Hamontree died in the Sigma Chi basement due to asphyxia caused by alcohol poisoning in 2004 and Sigma Chi's charter was revoked (which led to the dry campus policy in effect today).

[gopokes88]

I definitely share in your disgust but in reference to my previous post you'll have to take my word for it that this did not occur when you went to school there nor when I did. As a landman you likely work or have worked with several SAE alumni and I hope that you don't lump us all in with this group of idiots.

Also, sorry that SAE is likely going to affect how your friends perceive OU. That is really unfortunate. Hopefully the swift action of the University and National fraternity in dealing with this as well as the student body as a whole's reaction to it will make them appreciate the type of school OU really is. The actions of a few do not represent the feelings of the whole.

This has got to be a record for fastest pulling of a charter (for good reason, all that was needed is to confirm it was in fact, SAEs). Racist fraternity guys isn't news but the speed that the charter was pulled, under 24 hours since it happened is kind of amazing.

[Mel]

This has got to be a record for fastest pulling of a charter (for good reason, all that was needed is to confirm it was in fact, SAEs). Racist fraternity guys isn't news but the speed that the charter was pulled, under 24 hours since it happened is kind of amazing.

Social media lynching's don't take very long. Mouse potatoes just sit around and drool for this kind of stuff.

[Pete]

Social media lynching's don't take very long. Mouse potatoes just sit around and drool for this kind of stuff.

True.

We have talked about this a great deal recently here on the site.