Quote:
Originally Posted by ChioLu
Sig Ep and Alpha Phi are under social suspension (no social activities while UCLA is investigating).
2 Washington Post articles relating to this matter.
The last line in this article is my favorite:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...western-party/
This WP article is written by a UCLA Law grad. Too much law-speak for me to understand, but I think it states that the social suspension of both groups while the investigation is going on, is unconstitutional. (Kevin -- can you "translate"?)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...orority-party/ |
Translation: If these students and organizations want to sue the school, they are probably going to win. Last year, you may recall the University of Oklahoma expelling a few students and kicking SAE off of campus due to some racist basement songs. There was a consensus then that the school was not in their rights, but took a calculated risk, which in the end, may end up costing the university.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...he-university/
The fact is that schools are going to keep doing this until we fight back. Here's hoping these groups do not buckle to the university's bullying tactics and file suit. Schools don't have the legal power to punish this kind of speech, so they shouldn't even be suspending anyone pending an investigation.
That said, if the organizations' national HQs decide that this conduct is not represenative of their ideals, as private organizations, they can do whatever they want.
ETA: I really would encourage national organizations to push back on these issues. Protect your own spheres of influence. Act because that's what your values require, not because you are bending to the bullying of the host institution. Defend some of these actions on sheer principle. If a chapter holds an event where blackface is used, try a membership review instead of shuttering the chapter. Boot the idiots who don't uphold your values, but still give some value to the efforts of the hundreds of alumni/ae before them and the time, treasure and talent expended to achieve and maintain what that chapter was able to accomplish prior to some unfortunate incident. If the school punishes the chapter, haul their asses into court. You won't have a problem finding lawyers since in these cases, the school is going to be on the hook for attorney fees.