The student, who is black, said he heard members use the slur while singing along with music, while introducing the student to others and, in one case from March 2015, while running down State Street, according to a report written by Will Chapman, UW-Madison’s assistant director of student conduct.
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The Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter on the university’s Madison campus has been suspended of all activities until November 1 and all fraternity members are required to go through diversity, inclusion and mental health training, the school said in a statement on Wednesday.
After video was posted online a year ago showing the Oklahoma SAE members engaging in a racist chant on a bus, the fraternity’s Evanston, Illinois-based national leadership made several changes.
Weghorst disputed Blank’s assertion that SAE has an inability to address discrimination.
“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”.
The national headquarters has been investigating details of racial intolerance with several members of our chapter at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
Chapter leaders said they were not told about the racial nature of the event at the time and no criminal report was filed, according to the timeline. Sigma Alpha Epsilon apologizes for the actions of these former members, because they do not represent our mission and values. 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.
A few months later, on February 26, the student filed another complaint, saying “he heard another member repeatedly singing a lyric containing a racial slur”.
University documents say a former fraternity member came forward with allegations about the slurs and accused a fraternity member of assaulting him.
McGlone said it’s important for students to continue to speak up and report when they experience discrimination. The university acknowledges that the fraternity expelled that member and suspended another who was “involved” in the incident, but notes that the expelled member “continued to be present at times at the chapter house”.
While the UW-Madison fraternity’s leadership did take action on some of the incidents, the black member who complained to the university said racist behavior continued.
In early March he made his complaint to the university.
The university’s Committee on Student Organizations suspended the fraternity Tuesday for 6 months.
“When we find that the behavior of any member is inconsistent with our expectations, we work to eradicate that behavior”, the fraternity said. Since the beginning of the academic term, our field-staff team has completed almost 600 visits to our groups to provide additional education, awareness and training on many important topics, including diversity and inclusion. We view our relationship with colleges and universities as a partnership. Members also have to undergo diversity and mental health training before the chapter can be reinstated. He also didn’t specify how many members have been kicked out due the incidents that led to the chapter’s suspension.
Canty also serves as the chief staff liaison to our Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, a group that consists of undergraduates, alumni and non-members who are subject-matter experts on issues related to diversity.
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The suspension is a result of a complaint issued March 7 by a student member accusing the fraternity of having a “hostile, discriminatory environment”, according to a UW-Madison news release.
