Univ. of Oklahoma President: Frat Members ‘Disgraceful’

ORMAN, Okla. (AP) — The president of the University of Oklahoma chastised members of a fraternity on Monday who participated in a racist chant caught on video, calling them disgraceful and their behavior reprehensible. President David Boren joined students at a pre-dawn rally on the Norman campus, just hours after the Sigma Alpha Epsilon said an investigation confirmed the contents of the online video and announced the local chapter would close. The video shows several people chanting a racial slur and indicating Blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity. The chant also references lynching.



“You are disgraceful,” Boren said, according Students at the University of Oklahoma protest a fraternity’s racist comments on Monday, March 9, 2015 in Norman, Okla. University President David Boren lambasted members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on Monday who participated in a racist chant caught on video, calling them disgraceful and their behavior reprehensible, and ordered that their house be vacated by midnight Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney) 



University of Oklahoma President David Boren, left, speaks with students as they protest a campus fraternity’s racist comments on March 9, 2015 in Norman, Okla. Boren lambasted members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on Monday who participated in a racist chant caught on video, calling them disgraceful and their behavior reprehensible, and ordered that their house be vacated by midnight Tuesday.

 The Oklahoman newspaper.

 “Real Sooners are not bigots, real Sooners are not racist.”

Students at the University of Oklahoma protest racist comments made by a fraternity on Monday, March 9, 2015 in Norman, Okla. University President David Boren lambasted members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on Monday who participated in a racist chant caught on video, calling them disgraceful and their behavior reprehensible, and ordered that their house be vacated by midnight Tuesday. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Steve Sisney)

The national fraternity released a statement Sunday night saying it was “embarrassed” by the “unacceptable and racist” behavior.

The video was first posted online by a Black student group at the university. It wasn’t immediately clear how it was obtained.

Boren also released a statement saying the university was investigating to see if the video showed university students.

“If OU students are involved, this behavior will not be tolerated and will be addressed very quickly,” he said. “This behavior is reprehensible and contrary to all our values.”