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University of Oklahoma fraternity shut down for racist video

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was shut down at the University of Oklahoma Sunday night after a video went viral showing multiple frat members chanting a racial slur. 

  • By Staff Associated Press

| Norman, Okla.

A University of Oklahoma fraternity will close and its members will be suspended after the group's national headquarters says a video of members participating in a racist chant was posted online.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon said Sunday night that an investigation had confirmed the contents of a video showing multiple people chanting a racial slur against blacks and indicating that blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity. The chant also references lynching.

Oklahoma News9.com reports:

The 10-second video clip first surfaced sometime early Sunday afternoon and immediately went viral. The footage appears to be shot by a passenger on a bus with several members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

In the brief video, you can hear and see the members loudly chanting together, "There will never be a n***** SAE." SAE is a reference to the fraternity's Greek letters.

The chant repeats the first verse, then goes on to say, "You can hang them from a tree, but they'll never sign with me."

The video is believed to have been shot on Saturday while the fraternity was on a chartered bus for a date night.

The national fraternity said in a statement that it was "embarrassed" by the "unacceptable and racist" behavior.

We apologize for the unacceptable and racist behavior of the individuals in the video, and we are disgusted that any member would act in such a way. Furthermore, we are embarrassed by this video and offer our empathy not only to anyone outside the organization who is offended but also to our brothers who come from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities. This type of racist behavior will not be tolerated and is not consistent with the values and morals of our fraternity. We have more than 15,000 collegiate members across the nation, and this incident should not reflect on other brothers because this type of hateful action is not what Sigma Alpha Epsilon stands for. This is absolutely not who we are.

The video was first posted online by a black student group at OU. It wasn't immediately clear how it was obtained.

The university said earlier Sunday that it was investigating and didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the chapter's closure.

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