White fraternity pledge at Syracuse: ‘I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*****s’
Students are calling for more action.
Syracuse University is under fire after white fraternity members were caught spewing racist taunts and making lewd homophobic jokes in a video that surfaced showing members getting initiated into Theta Tau.
Syracuse University is under fire after white fraternity members were caught spewing racist taunts and making lewd homophobic jokes in a video that surfaced showing members getting initiated into Theta Tau.
Students are outraged and are protesting saying #WheresTheVideoSU. They have called for administrators to release the full video, reports Refinery29. Only an edited version has been shown. The school’s newspaper posted it on YouTube and it sparked immediate backlash.
—Diante Yarber, father of three, shot and killed by police in Walmart parking lot—
In the video, members are standing around while one man says to another who is kneeling and repeats after him:
“I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n——, s—-, and most importantly the fucking k—-,” referencing racial slurs for Black people, Latinos, and Jewish people respectively.
WARNING: Offensive, foul language.
The fraternity was suspended on Wednesday pending a full investigation.
“The video itself isn’t the issue. It’s bigger than the video, bigger than this one frat — because, believe me, this is not an isolated incident at ‘cuse — and it’s honestly bigger than Syracuse University,” said Elen Pease, who graduated from SU in 2017.
“It totally is a national issue. It’s all related to these big private schools that profit from minority students but won’t take time to fully embrace and provide resources for those same students.”
Students are calling out the predominately white school for using students of color to promote diversity but falling short on inclusion on its campus.
“So at this point in time, we are no longer going to let them utilize our melanin and utilize our ethnicities and backgrounds,” said junior Courtney Jiggetts.
—VIDEO: Philadelphia police chief apologizes for Starbucks arrest: “I failed in a variety of ways”—
“People are mad and hurt,” said graduate student Alison Caliguire.
“It was obvious from the forum that people want to see concrete action and change, she said, adding, “Something that was repeated a few times is a request for mandatory classes on racial and social issues. Another thing that students said a lot last night was that this video is representative of how they’re treated regularly; it’s not a unique issue.”
Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement: “This behavior is unacceptable and contradicts our moral standards.” Students are calling for more action than a suspension and a statement.
