Posted on 03/13/2015 12:50:31 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The local chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is planning to pursue legal action against the University of Oklahoma, and possibly OU President David Boren.
The group has hired high-profile attorney Stephen Jones to represent them.
Jones told NewsChannel 4 the group is outraged over President Boren shutting down the fraternity house and branding all SAE members as racists and bigots.
Jones says the two students who were expelled because of the incident have apologized sincerely for their remarks, and now the incident is being exploited.
He said they lacked judgment in a social setting, but they should not be tarred and feathered as racists.
Now, the group is looking at all options, as far as litigation.
We are told the decision to hire Jones came after an emergency meeting held by SAE members and alumni.
They are not racist like Obama is not a muslim. I guess we should take them at their word.
Oldplayer
A state-funded institution cannot discriminate against people for thought crimes. Before you know it, they'll be denied driver's licenses, EZ passes, Social Security benefits and so on.
Or medical care.
I accept their apology and am waiting for Obama to apologize for being a racist mooooslum terrorist.
This one should not have been hard to predict. Frats are corporations, and their good name is a critical asset in getting pledges and dues.
I guess it's too much to hope that OU lose its shirt so bad it becomes the University of SAE, but maybe it will get David Boren out of everyone's face at last. Lefty totalitarian.
-They were incredibly stupid as 19-20 y o college kids are,likely drunk and on a private bus.
The song was disgusting and vile. They did not make the song up.
They should be punished in some way but not their life destroyed.
I disagree that one incident makes them racist
An old boss of mine spent quite a bit of time working to buy another fraternity's house for the use of his fraternity expanding into a new college and he spent lots of time with lawyers beyond just the real estate issues.
In order for this to be fair:
* All black fraternities with kids referring to each other as nigger or women as hos or listening to loud music with such words must be disciplined
* La Raza is banned from campus as a racist organization
It was SAE headquarters who shut down the chapter and ended their lease of the fraternity house, not OU. And as for branding them as racists and bigots I think they did that to themselves through that video. They didn't need the University's help.
According to the SAE website the university owns the building and SAE leased it from them. When SAE revoked the chapter's charter they ended their lease with the university. OU was entitled to take control and tell the residents to leave.
The University of Oklahoma held the lease for the chapter house, serving as the landlords. Any directive to vacate the property, as well as any accommodations that may have been arranged for the vacated members, came from administrators. Alumni from the University of Oklahoma chapter are saddened and heartbroken not only about the incident but about the personal significance of the chapter house as it relates to their memories of their college experience.
“They are not racist like Obama is not a muslim. I guess we should take them at their wordIt doesn’t matter if they are racist.”
Its not illegal to be racist. Its not illegal to chant the “N” word. Unappealing but not illegal. The University had no legal right to expel those 2 students anymore than it had a right to shut down an entire fraternity. As far as I know the incident happened on a private chartered bus that was not even on campus. The 1st Amendment is a tricky thing.
The UO and its President are going to get their azz sued off and will likely have to come to an out of court settlement because they don’t understand the 1st Ammendment.
On the radio last night a man said that they should certainly lose their fraternity and all that goes with it because “they are racists” and racists should be shunned by society.
I wish I could ask him: Have you ever told a racist joke?
Because if he has told ONE racist joke then he is AS racist as these men who sang ONE racist song.
Singing a stupid racist song does not, necessarily, make a person a KKK-loving racist. It’s stupid, but it’s not a Robert Byrd (D) kind of commitment to a racist lifestyle and/or ideology.
So, I ask: exactly how racist ARE these men compared to the President of the University whom I will wager has either told a racist joke at least once in his life or stood there as a friend of his did so.
(Side note: Their full-time black cook, whom is now unemployed, said that they were the best men he knew and that he is appalled at their treatment. For what it’s worth.)
Some information I haven’t seen on this. Anyone know how many total members SAE had at OU; how many were on that bus, and how many actually participated in the song?
Haven’t seen anything that puts those involved in the context of the total frat membership.
And I agree Boren has looked like a typical lefist totalitarian idiot in his actions. Some punishment was merited, but not his knee-jerk overreaction.
Not necessarily.
At my school, the houses were owned by a local “House Corporation” that was a separate legal entity from the National and run by local alumni. The land was owned by the University and leased to the house corporations under a separate agreement, which obligated the University to buy the house at fair market value should it decide to cease leasing the land.
I’m guessing that there’s a similar situation here, with the house and land being leased. While the SAE National has revoked the charter and severed ties, the chapter’s house corporation might be the actual leasee, and therefore able to take it’s own legal action independent of the other parties.
If they go to trial, every frat brother these guys had will take the stand and claim that the two that were expelled are big time racists.
I agree. I hope they own end up owning the building they were thrown out of.
I'm wondering whether during his tenure as president, any student athletes at OU have been accused of crimes (such as rape). If so, were the students accused expelled summarily without any due process?
According to the SAE Website the building was the property of the university. The wanted to make it clear that it was the university who was evicting the students and not the fraternity. Of course since they revoked the OU chapter's charter then the former frat boys had no reason to be living there so the University could tell them to leave.
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