Sig Ep Out at Ole Miss
 

After hanging a noose around the neck of the statue of James Meredith (the first black student at Ole Miss) and draping an old Georgia flag (which included the Confederate flag), 3 freshman Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers have created a firestorm...

http://hottytoddy.com/2014/02/21/in-...ely-suspended/

I don't know what to say, totally speechless.

You know that phrase "you are always wearing your letters" (meaning your actions are reflected on the fraternity)?
That.

What a shame 3 brothers (and new ones, at that) had to ruin it for everyone.

This has nothing to do with wearing letters, this has to do with they need to do some time in jail for a hate crime.

Amen.

Agree

I just wonder if these 3 morons have any clue of the enormous damage that they have done to their chapter, Sig Ep's reputation, and the reputation of Ole Miss. For this action, they will certainly be thrown out of Ole Miss. All of their fraternity brothers will suffer for what they did. I do hope that the Sig Ep chapter did not have anything to do with their racist actions. That remains to be seen.

It is rather ironic that in today's Daily Mississippian, there was an open letter to the University family from all of the IFC presidents. They collectively committed to immediately expel any fraternity member found to be involved. It was signed by all IFC presidents, including the Sig Ep president. And Sig Ep did exactly as promised.

Just to clarify what I understand, the Sig Ep chapter has been suspended indefinitely. They have not been closed by their national or thrown off campus by the University.

Sig Ep at Ole Miss
 

According to the AJC this morning, the three freshmen suspected of involvement in this are from Georgia.:(

The use of the old Georgia flag made me suspect as much.

Idiots.

Ole Miss Sig Ep
 

What tools and idiots. However I don't think Sig Ep should be puninshed unless a connection to the chapter can be established.

This is the way it is today when a few (3) fools harm a whole Fraternity and the Greek community!:confused:

Fraternity announcement: SigEp responds to desecration of James Meredith statue

The fraternity itself Sigma Phi Epsilon suspended the Ole Miss Chapter and is conducting an investigation. Ole Miss is only proceeding against the three men involved directly in the incident.

As with racially themed parties, I don't care about the GLO part of this. I only care about the culture that perpetuates this type of behavior. And, yes, there are cultures that perpetuate this type of behavior. The deterrents for such behaviors are weak enough to make people consider the benefits to quickly and even slightly outweigh the costs. If this was mostly about being young and dumb these idiots have a plethora of non-bigoted things to stupidly engage in.

Three young men of an apparently regrettable upbringing from Georgia. Don't know if they were denied admittance to a Georgia school or if they didn't bother to try. Somehow they thought they had found safe haven for their asinine belief system here in the Red Hills of Mississippi, but they were tragically wrong. Wrong for themselves and very wrong for Ole Miss.

Are you sure they are from Georgia? They are acting like they are from the Arizona legislature.

I'm with DrPhil. It's not about the GLO aspect for me. It's about the culture. Which is alive and well and thriving in Phoenix.

We were talking about this at supper last night. My daughter (13) knew nothing about it, but has very good friend in Oxford, so her ears perked up. Her question in response to hearing that three pledges were involved: "Was this one of those things that they make you do when you're joining a fraternity that you're not supposed to let anyone know a about? I forget what you call it." I imagine many folks assume the possible pledging/hazing connection. (And yes, the hazing conversation followed.)

The chapter has been suspended. I assume that's pending a determination that this was just three idiots and not pledging-related. In that sense, I think the GLO aspect and the culture aspect are related. Certainly, the main problem is a broader culture fosters or implicitly approves of this kind of behavior. But I think in the context of these guys pledging, it's fair to ask whether the fraternity was feeding that culture.

It would be interesting to know if the three dipshits knew each other prior to pledging.

If they were doing this as part of a pledge process, I would be interested in the culture that allows everyone involved to use a GLO as a cloak for their bigotry.

I think it's fair to ask what the fraternity is looking for in brothers that it managed to pledge three who think like this. Apparently they need better character judges.

DGTess, that's exactly what I was thinking. These people have rotten souls. It reflects very badly on those who decided to include them in a selective fraternal organization.

To be fair, assuming the chapter was not involved with what happened, I don't think you can blame the chapter for giving them bids. We all know that recruitment can be challenging, decisions are made without TRULY knowing potential members, and we've all had a few bad apples in our chapters. What will define the chapter is how they handle things going forward. If the active members continue to associate with these three "men", then yes, I would agree with you. But these guys were still pledges and may not have shown their true colors until this incident occurred.

This is not completely confirmed, but I understand that the 3 Idiots from Georgia were initiates from the Fall 2013 pledge class. They were active members, not pledges. Hopefully they will be formally charged this week, so that their names can be released under FERPA.

Every (literally, every) GLO has bigoted people who potentially express their bigotry in overt and illegal ways. It is just a matter of which form of bigotry and which expression of bigotry. Our chapters and national bodies are unable to screen for this stuff.

Oh, ok - I think because people have said "We'll see if this was pledging related," and the article mentioned they were freshmen, I assumed that they weren't brothers yet, but maybe not. Either way, I just hope the chapter wasn't involved and didn't know what these guys were all about prior to their despicable actions.

All I know is, if I were an active in this group, I'd be doing some major soul searching about how we communicated our values and whether I belonged there any more. Yeah, there are bigots everywhere, but these men aren't regular old bigots. I don't believe that most garden-variety American racists would celebrate and glorify murder. I read placing a noose around James Meredith's neck as a death threat to fellow students, faculty, and staff. If people who would do that felt welcome in my chapter, that would scare me.

Actually, the "garden-variety American racists" are the ones who originally did things like (or condoned doing things like) displaying nooses and hanging people. It wasn't considered murder or threat of murder against humans.

As for what these idiots did in 2014, it can spark fear but many Blacks will probably see it as a reminder of racial stupidity and say "oh, that again."

Do I think GLO members should question their GLO because of some bigots in the GLO? Only if the GLO is conducive to bigotry and permits members to outwardly express bigotry with no response from the membership. That does happen but I don't assume that is what happened in this story until we learn more about the chapter's involvement or lack thereof.

As it appears thus far from what i have read that the GLO in question took swift action at both the chapter and the national levels. What the young men in the chapter should be questioning is if their a-hole detectors are finely tuned enough for recruiting new members.

Well, here's the thing, GLO chapters will only be able to screen for bigots if there is dialogue and there is an environment conducive to people saying things about race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, etc. That is not always the case when certain GLOs have cultures of silence regarding these issues. It would probably be less difficult to detect bigotry on the part of sexual orientation and gender (as opposed to race and ethnicity) since these topics can be clouded in religion and a lot of people don't mind being heterosexist. They are more inclined to keep their racism to themselves.

Going back to racism, so many white people pretend as though they are colorblind and believe their predominantly white GLO has nothing to do with race (because white privilege allows most white people to believe whiteness is race neutral). This has been seen on Greekchat hundreds of times over the years. There are tons of white GLO members who feel threatened and angry with any mention of their whiteness and any mention of the fact that their GLO and chapter are predominantly white. Phrases like "we're all SISTERSSSSSSS...we don't care about that other stuff" and "I don't see him as Asian...he's just my BROTHERRRRRR."

So, if some GLOs have cultures of silence and "rainbow pissing ponies" regarding these topics (a diversity workshop does not suffice) then, NO, GLOs will not be able to detect bigots unless the bigots feel comfortable enough revealing themselves (some do and some don't unless they believe their bigotry is welcomed with open arms).

DrPhil, I'm on about 99% of the same page (especially when it comes to pretending that whiteness=race neutrality and the safe space that provides for bigots).

I hope that, even in Mississippi, murderous racism isn't garden-variety any more. We've got a long way to go, there's plenty of it still out there, but I believe we've pushed that style of hate closer to the margins. It certainly was garden-variety in Meredith's day. That said, I defer to folks with deeper and longer experience if they see less change than I think I see.

Also, I agree that most black students will likely roll their eyes and go about their business without much additional fear. But when it comes to death threats, it's the action that matters, rather than the response. Hopefully, these criminals failed to scare anyone, but their attempt to revive an atmosphere of mortal peril is an equally big deal whether it was successful or not.

The families of Jordan Davis and Travon Martin would like a word with you.

Can we cut Mississippi a little slack on those since (while it historically had numerous horrible problems) both of those recent cases were from south Florida?

The Florida cases are horrific and important. But they aren't garden-variety activity. Even most Klansmen do not walk around shooting black teenagers. In Florida, we're talking about two murderers, and in Mississippi three makers of death threats. That number doesn't suggest, to me, that a majority or even a tenth of American racists (a category I count in the tens of millions) would take such actions.

If we're talking about people who would condone death threats or look the other way, yeah, that's unquestionably a bigger group. But my point was that these guys, with the actions they took, are outliers even among racists, and that therefore their embrace by an organization reflects badly on the organization.

No. I used those two examples because they are current and well-known. There are plenty of others, spanning many states, and pretending it's a Florida problem of some sort is really burying your head in the sand.

Here's a good roundup for your perusal:
http://www.theroot.com/photos/2013/0...d_stories.html

I'm not looking to debate the merits of any particular case mentioned, I'm just making the point that racism still has life-and-death consequences in these United States, whether you see it or not (and if you pass through life as a white person, you don't see it the way people of color do).

Ole Miss fraternities respond to noose, flag around James Meredith statue:

http://documents.latimes.com/ole-mis...redith-statue/

A little more information from the Sig Ep CEO about the situation at Ole Miss:

http://wreg.com/2014/02/25/ole-miss-...h-desecration/

He does confirm that the 3 Idiots From Georgia were members, not pledges. Their names have still not been released.

It sounds like there were no city or state law broken that the University, Oxford or Mississippi can pursue. It may be up to the Feds to decide if they want to pursue federal hate crime charges.

DBB, agreed.

Right, that's why I want people to see these issues beyond "chapter operations" and beyond "hazing." Pretending as though the larger problem is "chapter operations" or "hazing" (when applicable) is what keeps this stuff going. People are unable to see the larger themes because they are buried in certain details. That reminds me of that thread from a few months ago in which I was a bit shocked that GCers were talking for pages about everything except for what I considered to be the main theme.

As an aside, there are people such as myself who frown at the phrase "people of color" because it implies that whiteness is race neutral enough that white people are void of skin color. I've never met a (literally) transparent white person. Therefore, all humans are people of color. But my opinion doesn't make the world go around. :p

Doesn't saying "non-white" also have negative connotations (implying that they lack white skin)? I'm curious what term you prefer when discussing people who don't have white privilege.

It can have negative connotations since non-white only works if the baseline category is being white. That happens for some research and discussions of power dynamics, for example. For me it matters what is attempting to be conveyed.

I use "racial and ethnic minorities" which is about the wide range of racial and ethnic groups at the lower social power spectrum. People of the white diaspora would be racial and ethnic majorities (that includes inequality and disparity among ethnic groups within the white diaspora).

/DrPhil + WhiteRose1912 = thread hijack