Syracuse fraternity suspended for 'extremely racist' video
 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/syracuse-un...ry?id=54576696

The article has been updated to say that four Syracuse fraternities have been suspended this year. I'm surprised the school hasn't followed other universities and banned all fraternity/sorority activities yet. Perhaps now, after the news coverage and protests, they'll take it into consideration.

Theta Tau has been permanently expelled from the university.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s..._headlines_hed

Did some checking on Theta Tau.

It is a Co-ed Engineering Organization not a Social Organization like ours.

But of course, the problem is that they use Greek Letters which looks bad on all of us!:mad: As usual the News Media do not really care of the difference!:rolleyes::cool:

Why should the difference matter?

Why not?

The reason is because they are NOT one of The Governing bodies as we know them, that is why.

So, I hope that does answer the question that was raised!

Theta Tau is a member of the Professional Fraternity Association. It is older than over 30 members of the NIC, and larger (in terms of number of chapters) than at least 20 members of the NIC.

I think the response and concern over Theta Tau is absolutely warranted, primarily because THEY ARE NOT a member of NIC and a “social fraternity”. It’s much rarer to hear of this kind of behavior from an honorary or professional Greek group. The fact that Theta Tau is an engineering honorary is all the more shocking and elicits the response: “Now even the honorary frats are doing it!!!” (And I HATE the term frats; I’m using it as what a typical response might be!)
I’m not saying this reasoning is right, I’m just saying it is what it is.

*NOT* an honorary, a professional. Professionals have chosen pledge classes, honoraries *don't*.

And membership in the NIC isn't anything like a limiting factor. Out of Kappa Sigma, Sigma Nu, Omega Psi Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha, two are members of the NIC, two are not, and that membership means very little to the press (or for that matter many of the students)

Thanks for the specifics! I was, alas, dealing in generalities!

NIC membership does say something about the organization in that it has met certain requirements, is organizationally pretty stable, etc. Not that Kappa Sigma or Lambda Chi Alpha have any problems because of their lack of affiliation.

There is a little context, which I think, if true, could mitigate some of the concerns a little bit. The students claim that the video of the gentlemen saying the racist things was part of a skit roasting a brother who was a conservative Republican--a student, they claim, who doesn't hold those views despite his political affiliation. If that's true, there perhaps wasn't a racist intent or any attempt to marginalize anyone other than, ironically, conservative Republicans. It does remind me of a Dave Chappelle sketch in which a blind black man, who apparently doesn't realize he's black, is the head of his local KKK chapter, While I'm not by any means comparing the talent or the level of irony achieved in the various sketches, if the students' explanation stands, is this something they should be expelled from school over?

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/23/us/ne...rat/index.html

The second video, I expect will have a similar explanation.

Syracuse is a private school though, so they can give any person or organization the boot. They're currently reviewing all of Greek Life.

I'm not really seeing the comparison between this and the Dave Chappelle skit you've described.

Regardless, there are so many things I could say about this being a "joke", but I'll get too worked up and go on ranting for days. So I'll leave it at this: I could never imagine, even in a joking way, doing or saying the things these young "men" did in this video. It's so far beyond comprehension. Heck, every single person in that chapter could be white, but there was no consideration for how those words and actions might even make another brother feel. If my chapter ever did something like this, I would be so appalled and would honestly question whether or not it's a chapter with which I'd like to be associated.

And aside from that, why would anyone think it's a good idea to a) put this on video, and b) post it to the internet? How stupid can one chapter be?

You're also not 19-22. According to them, they were not engaging in blatant racist activity, they were roasting a conservative/Trump voting brother by portraying him as a white nationalist.

These are the same kind of kids who play Cards Against Humanity. I'm sure you would never even in a joking way say or do these things.

With regard to it being on the internet. I'll agree as to the lack of providence in posting every minute of your life, especially when taken out of context, what you put out there could cost you your academic career at a $50,000/year university. Initially, I was pretty shocked, but at this point, I want to know more because context means everything here.

And ultimately, what you or I think doesn't matter. If Syracuse University wants to kick every one of these students out as well as all of their Facebook friends for good measure, that's their business.

These things never go well. Now the students have filed a lawsuit against the university.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/5-t...ity/ar-AAwlbBQ

It is appears now that the University's response was waaaay over-the-top. These things sometimes go well. SAE at the University of Oklahoma got what was coming to them, though I do think the students expelled in that case have pretty good civil rights claims.

As defamation cases go, the University's extremely public response to this incident without the benefit of a full investigation, jumping to conclusions without getting all of the facts.. yeah... they'd better get ready to write some checks. I'm guessing that the $1 million each has something to do with New York's Tort Claims Act limits.

I wasn't racist nor saying such offensive things with my sorority sisters between the ages of 19 and 22.

I've played Cards Against Humanity. I guess I must have missed the cards with the racial slurs on them.

So in other words they were doing something like the movie CSA?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.S....tes_of_America

It’s very hard to know if their explanation holds water without personally knowing these guys, but as I’ve said before, if you have to explain something is satire, it probably isn’t very good satire.

And even if it WAS good satire (like the movie cited above) people will chop it up and take it out of context.

I guess there are no racial overtones whatsoever to "a big black dick" or in the expansion pack, "an even bigger black dick."

And there's nothing racist at all about the "Jew Pack" containing prompts about the holocaust, torturing Jews and Anne Frank's genitals.

Here's an article which does a content analysis of the Cards Against Humanity game which finds, among other things that

It's really exactly the kind of humor these kids are being expelled for. I wonder if any of the administrators involved has played this game?

Didn't see the link, so
http://www.academia.edu/34277608/Equ...ainst_Humanity

:eek: I had to Google this, because I didn't think it could actually be real. Please tell me that people were outraged when that came out.

I guess it's been a really long while since I've played - I actually find the game rather boring. But perhaps that just means I'm too old and "uncool".

Exactly the same "humor"? Eh, I'm not so sure. But I guess for me, I've never found a reason to utter a racial slur - nor have I thought about it, even in a joking way - so I interpret this as being different. But perhaps it isn't.

Either way, I really can't blame the school for taking this as seriously as they have in the current climate this country is in. And there's video which will live forever on the internet. The school can't just ignore that and say, "Everyone, chill. It was a joke."

You had to Google it because you didn't think it could be real? Either you didn't play this game, or this stuff really doesn't offend you, because, if we are to believe you are as offended by all of this as you say you are, how could you not remember this? I regularly advise my actives against playing this game as I can only imagine the fallout if some video of some college kids playing this game was ever to be made public in today's PC climate.

What happened here according to the Fraternity--uttering racial slurs to make fun of someone who was associated loosely with people who actually do make racial slurs because that individual would be embarrassed to be associated with, for example, white nationalists.

I tend to believe the Fraternity if the affidavits filed in the lawsuit are correct and one of the people being disciplined for this was African American, another Jewish.

What happens with CAH--uttering racially charged words, not because anyone wants to denigrate anyone's race, but because the rules dictate that you have to come up with the most shocking/humorous combination of cards given the options in your hand. And you might be holding only these cards: "A big black dick, "an even bigger black dick," "the holocaust," "Anne Frank's genitalia," "slavery," and "not giving a shit about the third world." (all actual cards). I don't think anyone should be allowed to police what anyone else finds funny. That seems a tad thought-policey.

They could. They actually could do that. They could allow for an actual investigation without expelling an organization permanently, expelling students permanently, suspending others from academics as finals are coming up. That was totally an option and now they have a multimillion dollar lawsuit to contend with. I hope SU writes some big 'ol checks. Maybe that'll slow the roll of future administrations wanting to pander to the PC mob.

That's the correct link.

So your assumption is that everyone who's ever played CAH has heard of the Jew Pack? I've never bought this game, nor have I ever been inclined to. Why should I have heard of this?

As I said, slurs are on a different level for me, but I guess they aren't for everyone.

They can sue, and I'm sure they'll win, but at what point do our members start acting intelligently? When do we start holding them accountable? When does "We didn't mean to" not count as an excuse? This isn't just a bunch of PC bull****. Take this case of a DPhiE sister - she was quickly stripped of her membership. I say good. No organization should have to deal with this.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=243460

If these members are in a position to sue and win, compared to the University, they acted intelligently. I'm guessing the administration violated even their own policies in processing these disciplinary actions so quickly. I don't think "we didn't mean to" is what they're saying. My takeaway is that they can't understand how anyone would view their actions as problematic when considered in context. I don't think these gentlemen owe anyone an apology. On the other hand, there are a lot of folks who owe them an apology.

15 fraternity members suspended by Syracuse:

https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/09/us/sy...ded/index.html