Blackface Students re-instated at AUburn

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Judge orders 10 Auburn frat members reinstated 11/24/01

BENJAMIN NIOLET and ADAM GOLDMAN News staff writers

A judge Wednesday ordered Auburn University to reinstate 10 white Beta Theta Pi fraternity members suspended for wearing blackface and racially offensive costumes at a Halloween party. Lee County Circuit Court Judge Robert Harper's ruled at a hearing Wednesday after the Auburn University chapter sued the university, several administrators and the fraternity's national office. Harper, however, did not grant a request to bar the university from pursuing further discipline, including expulsions. The chapter president of Delta Sigma Phi, which was suspended from the school for similar antics, said Wednesday night that his fraternity plans to go to court as well. Matt Furin said the chapter wants its five suspended members reinstated and their fraternity restored to campus. "We are taking legal action," he said. Auburn interim president William Walker suspended 15 members of the traditionally white fraternities after pictures of members at separate Halloween parties were posted on the Internet. The pictures showed members wearing blackface and dressed as Ku Klux Klan members. Some of the photos portrayed mock lynchings. The university and the national offices of the fraternities closed the Auburn chapters last week. Lawyers for both the Beta chapter and the university declined comment Wednesday night. The lawsuit, which seeks $300 million in compensatory and punitive damages, names Walker, the Auburn University Board of Trustees, Auburn's director of student affairs Wes Williams, and Beta Theta Pi General Fraternity. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims that Auburn officials and the national office of the fraternity violated the students' constitutional and civil rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of association and privacy guaranteed by the First and 14th Amendments. The Betas also claim the university's standards on student conduct, primarily dealing with racial issues, are unconstitutionally vague and cannot be enforced. They say university officials defamed them by identifying them as racists. The chapter claims university officials had ulterior motives for suspending the students and kicking the chapter off campus. The suit said university officials used the incident to defend their failure to meet court-required minority recruitment. Reached at home Wednesday night, Walker said he was pleased with the disciplinary steps the university had taken, but declined to discuss the court action. Williams, the Auburn vice president for student affairs, said Wednesday, "I think they have the right to go to the courts. I'm disappointed that this has been elevated to the courts. I thought we could work it out." The Beta chapter was founded in 1964 by Edward Taylor, 79, who said Wednesday he and the suspended members felt helpless and wronged by the university's decision. "I feel like we got a raw deal in having the chapter suspend us," the Auburn resident said of the chapter and the students. "We weren't able to do anything about it." News staff writer Tom Gordon and the Associated Press contributed to this report.