New Evidence Suggests The SAE Racist Chant Is Not Just An OU Thing, Other Chapters Called Into Question
This onion is starting to stink to high heaven. With each new detail of the SAE racist chant story that is revealed, the more damning it looks for SAE — and now it appears it’s not just the SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma that is guilty of chanting a similar song.
A thread was started on reddit 29 days ago that brought an alleged list of FIJI pledge rules into question. This list, while pretty damning in its own right, is irrelevant to the current situation with SAE, and not just because it’s 10 years old and has zero foundation or reason to buy its authenticity. Soon after the post hit reddit, someone posted a very interesting comment that was later mysteriously deleted. The cached version of that page, where the comment is still visible, can be found here.
The comment is below. Again, this comment was posted weeks before the OU SAE bus video surfaced.
It would appear the chant is practiced by multiple SAE chapters, albeit with different versions. Although it is not stated, the context of this comment suggests that the SAE chapter the commenter was referencing is the one at the University of Texas. The alleged FIJI pledge rule list was connected to the UT chapter in the initial post, and the commenter didn’t state a different university.
Also, there’s this:
#UT President Bill Powers says school 'looking into' reports that SAE chapter there has chant similar to #OU. More on @NBCDFW at 10.
— Brian Curtis (@BrianCurtisNBC5) March 11, 2015
Also occurring in the wake of this mess, someone came forward to reveal that he heard the same chant by members of the Louisiana Tech SAE chapter back in 2010. He told his story to BuzzFeed News.
“It was the summer of 2010. I was at a rush party at the SAE at LA. Tech house along with all the other freshman who had been invited,” Dylan Merriman wrote in an interview with BuzzFeed News. “I cant remember exactly what he [an SAE active at the party] chanted/drunkenly said but it was similar to the video that has been on social media.”
Three SAE chapters from three different states have been connected to this chant. How far does it reach? How cultural is this problem? And what is SAE going to do to fix this mess?.
[via reddit, BuzzFeed News]
It’s like the Patriots with spigot, everybody did it but one group got caught and will take all of the punishment, everyone else will probably get a stern warning.
11 years ago at 9:53 pmSAEs at Texas are generally dbags.
But this shit is still sad.
11 years ago at 9:55 pmWe live in a cynical world
11 years ago at 11:30 pmIf anything Greek life is racist against white people, we can’t rush Panhellenic unlike the black people.
11 years ago at 11:38 pmI have four black brothers at SAE. Better men than those asshats will ever be. We never learned that song and I know brothers from four other chapters that also say they never learned that song. The same black brothers were just as likely to tell racist jokes as the rest of us. There are just some chapters that are less racially sensitive than others. It doesn’t make them racist, it makes them drunk assholes like the rest of us.
11 years ago at 12:38 amBreaks my heart to see my Fraternity slugging itself more or less. Sucks even more that my chapter in Ohio has to read about such “extensive” SAE issues, when it’s just not evident to to eye in my chapter or region. Racism is an issue. Racism is an issue in Greek life. But that’s just an extension of racism being an issue throughout college demographics. I heard plenty of awful, awful, comments on our new president from non-Greek life individuals. I wish we could stop the generalizing about Greek life, even specific chapters. We’re all comprised of the same stock.
11 years ago at 8:02 amSame
11 years ago at 11:04 amAssholes
Everywhere
I currently go to LA Tech and even among a small Greek community, the SAE chapter here is irrelevant & the racist chant was an issue almost 5 years ago…the fact that they have maybe 15 actives should reflect that they aren’t exactly high quality guys. Also, I don’t condone what the guys on the bus did, but I just would like to point out that as a woman in a sorority I don’t agree with the formal date posting the video. She was asked (I’m assuming the videoer was someone’s date) and should have respected the fraternity’s privacy as she agreed to go. Whoever posted it didn’t think about the consequences for Greeks around the country. I will never deny we party and can be stuck up but I honestly believe in the friendships made through being Greek and the good we can do. Whoever posted it failed to consider the negative rep we get as a community and the power it gives to anti-Greek university administrations. This will lead to Greek life as a whole being condemned and traditions that are in no way racist being magnified, criticized, and eventually banned. We will have to tread so lightly that we can’t even retain the aspects of our sororities or fraternities that are sacred & make us unique; we will have to be more open and constantly try to defend things that shouldn’t have to be defended. This has opened a whole new door and like I said, the guys are idiots and deserve punishment, but I also think the girl who did it needed to sit down and think about contacting the fraternity’s nationals or even their president first instead of releasing something that could hurt so many innocent & accepting Greeks.
11 years ago at 11:39 amI saw an ad on Facebook for Peace t-shirts. They convey a positive message about unity and equality while being stylish as h*ll! Never heard of the company before, but here’s website if you want to take a look. http://www.luxcolbair.com — They designed an entire collection based around this event and I’ve already seen a couple people wearing theirs. I’m probably going to get one soon so I can join the movement for peace. Things are getting a little out of hand and I want to end it before it becomes detrimental to our society as a whole.
11 years ago at 2:34 pmThis has taken off quite rapidly. I saw an ad for some sweet shirts that were designed to help calm the madness going on! I feel everyone needs one so we can work to promote peace instead of create more violence. The shirts are at luxcolbair.com if you’re interested…
11 years ago at 2:36 pm