MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin has suspended the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at its flagship campus after finding that members of the fraternity repeatedly used racist and bigoted slurs and ostracized a black member who tried to stop it.
The suspension handed down Tuesday by the school’s Committee on Student Organizations comes a year after the fraternity’s University of Oklahoma chapter was disbanded after video emerged showing members engaging in a racist chant.
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Under the Wisconsin suspension, the chapter cannot participate in any Greek activities until Nov. 1 and can’t recruit new members this fall. Members also have to undergo diversity and mental health training before the chapter can be reinstated. The chapter had already been on probation for an unrelated incident of underage drinking.
The Wisconsin incidents allegedly occurred from the fall of 2014 until February of this year and were reported by a black member of the fraternity, according to university documents.
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The member, who was unnamed in the report and who was listed as an active member as of its March filing, said he consistently heard anti-black and anti-gay slurs. He also accused a fellow fraternity member of assaulting him, and school officials said that member was disciplined as a result.
After video was posted online last year showing the Oklahoma SAE members engaging in a racist chant on a bus, the fraternity’s Evanston, Illinois-based national leadership made several changes. In addition to disbanding the Oklahoma chapter, it hired a director of diversity and inclusion, said it was reviewing all 237 of its chapters for racially offensive behavior and required all of its members to complete online diversity training.
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In February, SAE’s leadership said members at five other chapters acknowledged having heard the racist chant over the past five years.
In a letter sent Tuesday to SAE’s executive director, Blaine Ayers, about the decision to suspend the Madison chapter, school Chancellor Rebecca Blank wrote that she understands the organization has tried to address these issues, but that they clearly persist.
“It suggests that your efforts to address an intolerant and discriminatory culture have not been effective,” Blank wrote. “The conduct in this situation must not be repeated.”
Blank wrote she would like Ayers and the chapter president to meet with her before the suspension is lifted to explain how the organization will bring about lasting change.
Brandon Weghorst, a spokesman for the fraternity, said in an email he was traveling and would respond shortly.
The national fraternity began collecting racial and ethnic data in 2013. Ayers reported in 2015 that about 3 percent of the fraternity’s reporting members identified as African-American and about 20 percent identified as non-white.
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