Posted on 03/13/2015 3:51:24 AM PDT by rickyrikardo
NORMAN, Okla. — 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at kfor.com ...
The university didn't expel SAE. There was no SAE chapter to expel; the national organization revoke the chapter's charter. All OU did was take their property back in the form of the frat house.
——The alumni better have deep pockets——
I would suggest the legal work is pro bono and to be accomplished by SAE alums
Who expelled the students?
Be interesting to see some clandestine video of what is said in black frat houses.
The men involved are adults, and they have freedom of speech.
No laws were broken.
And unless the university had specific written rules about which words can and cannot be uttered, there is no case. In fact, the rules would not apply off campus, where the incident took place.
You are not guaranteed the freedom to be offended by speech in this country.
The university reacted like an elementary school, and they need their heads legally handed to them.
Boren. But according to the story the poor little plaintiffs are saying he shut down the fraternity and branded them as racists. He didn't shut down the fraternity and any racist label was entirely self-inflicted.
Dig some up and we'll see if the university has a double standard.
The men involved are adults, and they have freedom of speech.
And they took full advantage of that free speech to show what bigoted morons they are. Can't blame the university for that.
You are not guaranteed the freedom to be offended by speech in this country.
True. And you are not guaranteed that your exercise of free speech won't have repercussions.
The legal work may be done solely for the publicity, this is Stephen Jones after all, but as for SAE alums digging in and contributing how many really want to be connected with a law suit over their former SAE brother's right to yell "n***er"?
I agree 100%. There has to be a national discussion about what is allowed in rap lyrics, what is awarded in rap lyrics... I mean they’re producing “songs” that a certain segment of society can’t sing while others can? There is no reasoning there. Only emotion and stupidity.
All of what you said is true.
However, what jurisdiction does the university have to expel them and to take their property without due rocess that already exists within the university framework?
And to take the property of the other innocent frat brothers, i.e, their paid for living arrangements, without a hearing.
And quite frankly, there are racists everywhere, of all colors.
When the n-word disappears from rap music, let me know.
One quick note on the Constitutional issue.
The Progs are trotting out Tinker vs School Board to defend the expulsion.
The problem is that Tinker only applies to speech inside classrooms. It doesn’t apply to speech outside the classroom setting. And the caveat of OU being a state school (therefore an arm of tge governmemt) applies.
Just something to keep in mind if you hear someone citing it.
“I would suggest the legal work is pro bono and to be accomplished by SAE alums”
Even if the financing is in place, all involved should be ready for a viscious assault by the left. The politics of personal destruction can be used against people who aren’t public figures. The left will not want to see SAE win this case.
All??? Oklahoma must have laws about the process to evict people from their residence, even on property they control. And wouldn't that involve due process?
There's white guilt okay. It's shown in those that overcompensate in their dealings with manufactured black rage.
The more I think of it, the more it stinks. The whole concept of what's "hate speech" and what's "free speech" should be revisited. We (still) have a constitutional right to be tasteless and offensive, as long as it doesn't involve a direct threat. There's a reason for that. It's the only way there can be a free exchange of ideas.
On free republic we might argue that people have the constitutional right to be racists if they want... but that doesn't work quite as well in the rest of the world, especially if you're trying to run a major university who needs black people on the football team etc etc.
I’m guessing due process for the university in dealing with students doesn’t necessarily involve the court system and lawyers. I’m guessing due process for the university is about 10 phone calls between the president and various regents and then the action is taken.
I wonder what the punishment would have been if the roles were reversed and the racial chanters were black.
This wasn’t “white guilt” by Boren. It was simple expediency. Had he not done what he did, there’d be major unrest on campus right now.
So it was the smart thing for him to do to keep the campus calm. But it was definitely not the right thing to do in ensuring the Constitutional protections if the little racist punks. And it’s going to cost OU a lot of $$$ down the road if the punks decide to sue. But to Boren, having to pay out millions a few years down the road because he violated Constitutional rights is a good tradeoff for keeping the campus under control now.
I agree with you.
Would that be lawsuit material is what I’m wondering. These students were evicted from their residence, and I’d think state law extends into the campus. Even if what some of the students did was embarrassing, it can’t be a valid reason for such an extreme measure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.