Oklahoma University SAE Scandal?

Jan Libourel

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I suppose most of you have heard of that incident at the University of Oklahoma where some members of SAE fraternity were recorded singing a racist chant on a bus, whereupon university president David L. Boren reacted by permanently shutting down the fraternity house and expelling the two students leading the chant.

Does this strike any of you as excessive? Had the SAEs been involved in a cross-burning or chanted the offensive chant at a group of African-American students, that would be a different matter. However, they were by themselves on a bus, where presumably no African-Americans were present. This seems to me to be more a "thought crime," kind of like Donald Sterling's injudicious remarks to Vi Stiviano.

And, how serious were the students in their racism? Isn't there a very good chance they were simply being bratty, irreverent and mischievous? College men--and perhaps fraternity members especially--are noted for that kind of thing. For example, when I was at UCLA, the "Fiji" house, notorious as an "animal house," was reputed to have a little shrine with a swastika flag and a bust or bas-relief of Adolph Hitler before which they burned candles. UCLA, I might mention, was very heavily Jewish in those days. However, everybody knew it was just what we called a "rat fuck," the Fijis just being their animalistic selves, and as far as I know, they never suffered any consequences.

And was it just or right to close down the whole fraternity house for the actions of just a few of the members, actions for which there were no real victims? I always thought the doctrine of "collective guilt" was sort of un-American. Anyway, do any of you have any views on this matter?

David L. Boren and I were up at Balliol together and were on quite cordial terms, I thought. If he is now so offended by political incorrectness, I don't know what the hell he was doing hobnobbing with the likes of me!
 
Even black fraternities don't want nwords to join. Whoever recorded and released it needs a beating. Can't a frat just move off-campus??
BTW, the minority fraternities are way more racist. Ban them.
 
It seems to me that when actual crimes of violence or property destruction are committed, that the education industry tries to cover it up and dismiss it with some "boys will be boys" nonsense. But when a goofy sing-a-long reaches into racial insensitivity (tm) the hammer must be dropped. Not because anybody was shocked to find that the frat bros are a bunch of ill-behaved privileged middle-class white kids, but because the industry thrives on the illusion of prestige, and the customers (paying parents) will sense that there is less "prestige" in the institution if everybody knows that the students are just average schlubs guilty of offending the chattering class. Hence, the iron fist comes down in a totally ridiculous overreaction,
 
Good point Russell Street Russell Street . Going a bit further, it is not just about paying customers, it is about the lifeblood of Universities these days: giving/donations/endowments. A university must be seen as a bastion of political correctness so as not to turn off existing or potential givers (individual or corporate). Now couple this with the magnitude of political correctness that exists today and there is no other option but to act decisively.

Failure to act quickly, is perceived as not caring or suggests the possibility of sweeping things under the rug.

Now things are a bit different for StudentProAthletes

This is no longer considered overreaction, it is the proper action
 
it is about the lifeblood of Universities these days: giving/donations/endowments
Oh yes, how could I be so naive as to forget that the full annual household income paid for tuition is only a small part of the total costs and that outside interests are the source of most funds. God forbid some censorship crew go on a witch hunt besmirching every company that tried to get a tax deduction by giving to U of O. They surely endorse those two kids guilty of being audibly racist when they thought they were in private! Surely any company that would still contribute directly supports institutional racism and the Prius drivers should all boycott GM until... wait, no, GM would be that cowardly.

I haven't looked, but I suspect that there is already an online financial backlash to support the fraternity in the vein of how many defiantly buy from Hobby Lobby, Chick-Fil-A, and that Duck Dynasty merchandise.
 
Shut down the U!
thats_racist.gif
 

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