Racist Chant Trickled Down From Evanston-Based Fraternity: University Official
(CBS) – The infamous racist chant that brought down Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma may have been learned during a national leadership cruise sponsored by the national fraternity headquartered in Evanston.
The revelation came to light Friday as the president of the University of Oklahoma revealed new details of the investigation into use of the chant at his college.
CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is headquartered in Evanston on the campus of Northwestern University. According to University of Oklahoma President David Boren, after conducting more than 160-interviews, school officials determined the chant was brought back to their school four years ago.
"It was learned by chapter members at a national leadership cruise sponsored by the national organization four years ago. That chant was learned and brought back to the local chapter," he said.
Boren said it did not end there.
"Over time, the chant was formalized by the local chapter and was taught to pledges as part of the formal and informal pledgeship process," he said.
That is believed to have led to the now-infamous video of SAE members singing the racist chant on a bus. The video went viral earlier this year, creating controversy and prompting the University of Oklahoma to take disciplinary action.
SAE Executive Director Blaine Ayers concurred with the findings but said there's no reason to think the chant is widespread across the fraternity's 237 groups. Ayers said SAE continues its in-depth investigation of its chapters.
"We remain committed to identifying and rooting out racist behavior from SAE, and we are actively investigating all of our local organizations to determine whether there are issues in any other location," Ayers said in a prepared statement.