An article from Inside Higher Ed:

""The Greek letter system is talked about as though it's full of good, upstanding young gentleman and then there's these bad apples that are unique," Hughey said. "While that may be true at some chapters, it turns the conversation into a matter of good versus bad, and ignores all the ugly that surrounds the whole system."

I'm glad there are going to be consequences for these students. I was embarrassed to hear Tri Delta(s) were involved. I do have a question though: It was mentioned above about how free speech is all about the government not limiting your speech, blah blah blah. But in this case, the president of this university is acting on behalf of a state university, so isn't that, in essence, the government interfering with these students' right to free speech?

I have seen 2 or maybe 3 different versions of the video, not just 1. In one video, you can also see a girl in a blue dress trying to take video and her date puts his hand over her phone to stop her. I think (perhaps it is hope) that many of the girls on that bus were shocked and upset.

FYI, I left a donation for Howard and got a email response to a comment I left from the organizer:

Current status of the chapter charter.
 

I'm in what is approaching an edit war on Wikipedia over a question involving this chapter.

Has anyone seen anything to indicate that the current status *within* of the SAE chapter at OU (Oklahoma Kappa) is any different than any other chapter which has been declared inactive, for example Illinois Beta at U of Chicago which was declared inactive in 1941.

For example, I haven't seen anything indicating that if SAE returns to the school that it would be as a new charter rather than a reactivation (Say as Oklahoma Pi) (I simply don't understand how the greek letters as part of SAE chapter names are assigned).

To me, whether or not OU President Boren will allow SAE back during his time in doesn't affect the status of the charter, inactive is inactive.

Why is this your responsibility?

Pursuant to our Fraternity Laws, when a charter is revoked, all active members of the chapter are automatically suspended. For most, they are converted to alumni in good standing after they graduate. Those who directly caused the loss of the charter are frequently expelled.

In this case, the charter is already gone effective Sunday night, so all active members are now suspended. A panel of alumni will now be convened as a trial board to determine who should be expelled. In the meantime, as mentioned, the university has already expelled two students involved in the video. We can likely expect to hear more from both the national fraternity and the university as their respective investigations progress.

I can't even begin to express how livid the fraternity is nation-wide at the behavior of these manchildren. Their behavior is so diametrically opposed to what SAE represents as to make one wonder how those individuals were ever admitted to membership to begin with. To time this with our Founders Day was just an extra slap in the face.

One of the young men expelled is identified as Parker Rice, recent graduate of Jesuit Prep, a prestigious private school in Dallas. They are so proud...

I was just watching a broadcast from Dallas and they said a second video surfaced within the last 24 hours.

The fund is over $50,000 at this time. Very nice of everyone as he appears to be one of the biggest victims of irresponsible boys.

Indeed sad. His name has been plastered over social media.

It is wikipedia, pages are not owned. In fact due to the rules on Conflict of Interest at Wikipedia, a brother of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is actually the least appropriate type of person to edit a page about Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

I'd just like to say that this seems a superior method to the way in which my fraternity would handle a similar situation, and I both compliment Sigma Alpha Epsilon on the method that they use and *wish* that it wasn't necessary.

I am so happy to hear this! Good for Howard and his wife!

Oh. Look who has issued an apology.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParkerRice?src=hash

Oh. See the nation not really give a damn about his "apology".

As long as white people understand the correlation between incidents such as this and race-ethnicity-culture themed events.

Piece of shit.

That's not an apology. It's a bunch of excuses.

Free Speech?
 

I'm surprised that I don't see anyone claiming that the actions by President Boren are a violation of the two expelled students Constitutional right to free speech under The First Amendment to the US Constitution.

I think that's the case here, even though I agree with Boren and SAE Nationals actions. Entirely.

However, I learned many years ago that the Amendment only applies if government infringes on a person's rights. That would seem to be true of a state supported university wouldn't it?

It may be that this situation is so egregious that the chapter and individuals involved will be shamed enough to simply keep their mouths shut. That's the opinion of an attorney who has handled cases before for chapters. (He also applauds the decisions made by OU and SAE by the way) He asked to remain anonymous.

I hope that happens. I met President Boren at a picnic for National Merit Scholars when our son started at Oklahoma several years ago and was very impressed. I think his actions in this case were exactly right, and hope they stand up.

I will now go quietly back into Greek Chat hibernation for another few years.

Fraternally,
DeltAlum

I don't know about the second student, but Parker Rice says he withdrew from the university.

I wouldn't hold your breathe on that one.

Good to see you and I thought the same thing when I heard that these guys were expelled. I'll admit I didn't see the video and I don't care to but if it's as horrible as it sounds it's possible that minority students could feel threatened by these guys and therefore expelling them is more a student safety issue than a free speech issue.

Yes. Here are the "apologies" that were given:

Parker Rice:
Yeah, mmhmm you joined in? You were leading the chant and can't even pretend to take responsibility for it. And the excuses? I can't.

Parents of Levi Pettit:
Why are the parents of Levi Pettit speaking for him? At the least, he can't speak for himself?

I know the statements were written by PR folks tho. The young men are only sorry they got caught.

A Message From Phi Delta Theta General Council President Regarding The Events At The University of Oklahoma https://www.phideltatheta.org/2015/0...y-of-oklahoma/

SAE-KY DELTA ‏@EKU_sae 1h1 hour ago We are True Gentleman. #WhatILiveBy

A Commentary: SAE http://youtu.be/W1Cj7GdgFvg

First Amendment discussion
 

It will be informative to see how this pans out - this came from one of my college teaching feeds:

http://academeblog.org/2015/03/11/wh...onstitutional/

"However, the standard of a “hostile educational environment” is a strong legal rule that simply is not met by chanting a racist song on a bus ride. Harassment law requires actions that are pervasive and substantial, and actually impact the learning environment of others. There are plenty of people who were rightly offended by this racist chant. But being offended by racism is not proof of harassment."

Regarding any 1st Amendment issues, I don't think that's keeping Boren up at night. OU has a fine legal staff. I've litigated against them (won), but they do know their way around the federal courthouse and then some.

It could be an interesting legal case, but being expelled under those circumstances, I would argue that the school couldn't possibly guarantee the students' safety at that point. Also, some speech, i.e., speech that is reasonably calculated to result in a breach of the public peace, is not necessarily considered protected speech.... and since this speech actually did require the Norman PD to have to surround the SAE house to keep vandals and ne'er do wells away, I think that's a solid argument.

There are good arguments on both sides... and I don't think the school cares whether they have to pay a settlement. They just want to get rid of this.

Regarding their fauxpologies:
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...b8b027d00c.jpg

I just wanted to point out that Parker withdrew on Monday, so the announcement on Tuesday that he was expelled means nothing. Levi would be the one to keep an eye on.

Yup, this! They are just trifling

So are we supposed to feel bad about this? An apology is not the place to complain about how your actions have blown up and affected your family.

The fund for Howard is now approaching $60,000. In scrolling through the list of donors, I noticed that several individuals donated in memory of their sorority and fraternity cooks. Sure wish I had thought to do that!

Possibly.

I think Kevin hits it right. They know there's a chance a court would say they violated his First Amendment rights, which is why they've attempted to predicate their decision on things other than the speech itself, but they think action now is worth the risk.

Please don't!

Yep.

Interesting commentary.... her ideas made me think.

A Teachable Moment

Agree 1000%. SAE has plenty to deal with right now and doesn't need any "help" editing its Wikipedia pages.

To answer the question, SAE designates its chapters by state name followed by one or two Greek letters selected by the charter members and approved by the Supreme Council. There is no particular system.

If the OU chapter were ever to be reconstituted, it would still be Oklahoma Kappa.

I understand that a literal reading of the Wikipedia conflict of interest policy could be interpreted that way, but it also says "subject-matter experts are welcome to contribute to articles in their areas of expertise, while being careful to make sure that their external relationships in that field do not interfere with their primary role on Wikipedia."

Using this example, who else other than a brother of SAE would have both the subject matter expertise and also the time and inclination to edit the SAE page? It's not a perfect system, which is why most people take Wikipedia with a grain of salt. The options in most cases would seem to be either uninformed editors or editors with a bias against the subject of the article.

I agree, and I also don't understand the motivation to get involved in a self-admitted "edit war" with someone over whether the appropriate terminology for the chapter at OU is "closed," "inactive," "disbanded," or whatever when one don't personally have the knowledge of the correct terminology and when one has to go to a message board in order to get the information. GC isn't what I would consider a reliable academic source. If one isn't a subject matter expert, then leave it to the subject matter experts. It's wikipedia, not life or death.

That being said, I also don't understand the motivation for several GCers to do and type things they do and type in the name of "helping," but to each his or her own.

I read that his family has had to move out of their house because of the threats made on his life and to some extent, theirs as well.

Jesuit is a private Catholic school with famous alumni, and well to do (and well known) parents from all over Dallas send their boys there. As a former longtime Dallas resident, a high school teacher in a north Dallas school district, and active in the Panhellenic system in Richardson/Plano, my kids knew many Jesuit boys. I can only imagine the alcohol and complete lack of judgment along with a desire to be "cool" have led to a lifelong mark on this student. I hope his parents are able to impress this on him.

When you have a child go off to college, you think "oh, thank you Lord, he/she got through high school. My worries are over". Not so. Stupid starts on a whole new level. You just don't know about it. :(

Two articles I came across via twitter that made me stop and think a little.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...w-david-french

http://www.foxsports.com/college-foo...iolence-031015

The OU regents will have to decide what to do with the former SAE house:

http://www.oudaily.com/news/former-s...7f87a2802.html

Awesome article:
https://www.phideltatheta.org/2015/0...sity-oklahoma/

A different viewpoint and an interesting take on what is to be done:
http://www.hlntv.com/article/2015/03...ent-leadership

"If we want to see real change in fraternities and sororities, we need to free the students to stand up, face the cameras, face their friends and say, "The stupidity must end."

Our members are both bad and good, and likewise, they are both the problem and the solution. Fraternities and sororities need student activism if they are ever to solve their overwhelming issues and negative public image."

NSU Sorority Members Wake Up To Vandalized Vehicles. They are trying to determine if this is backlash from the OU incident:

http://m.newson6.com/story.aspx?stor...7&catId=112042

Thank you, SWTXBelle, for providing that link / addy. That opinion piece says things that, I think, don't get said as often as they should.