University of Oklahoma Expels Two Students for Racist Chant

Those involved in the racist chant that garnered national attention over the past few days have been met with discipline. The president of the University of Oklahoma David Boren kept his word and dealt with those responsible. On Tuesday, two students from the university were expelled for their “leadership role” in the chant.

The film of the chant clearly showed the face of a Caucasian male student leading the chant in a bus, who was expelled today. In the clip, members of the Sigma Alpa Epsilon fraternity can be heard saying racist remarks such as “you can hang ‘em from a tree but they’ll never sign with me.” They vow that there will never be a black SAE member. The Oklahoma campus has 27,000 students and 5 percent of them are black.

David Boren promised to continue the investigation into the identities of the SAE members who took part in the chant. The president promised, “They will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.” Boren has already closed down the fraternity house and the all the members were forced to find other means of housing.

“If we're ever going to snuff this out in the whole country, let alone on college campuses, we're going to have to have zero tolerance, and we have to act right away. This is not a place that wants racists or bigots on our campus or will tolerate it, so I think you have to send a very strong signal,” said Boren.

After the news of the racist chant spread, other anonymous alumni and former SAE members of different chapters shared that the racist chant was not new and had surfaced at other campuses before. An anonymous OU student told NBC news that she heard the chant on campus two years prior. The national chapter of the fraternity released a statement addressing their investigation into other incidents.

“Several other incidents with chapters or members have been brought to the attention of the headquarters staff and leaders, and each of those instances will be investigated for further action. Some reports have alleged that the racist chant in the video is part of a Sigma Alpha Epsilon tradition, which is completely false. The fraternity has a number of songs that have been in existence for more than a century, but the chant is in no way endorsed by the organization nor part of any education whatsoever,” it wrote.