“That chant was learned and brought back to the local chapter,” Boren said at a news conference in which he disclosed the school investigation’s findings. “Over time, the chant was formalized by the local chapter and was taught to pledges as part of the formal and informal pledgeship process.”
A statement released Friday by the Evanston, Ill.-based national Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity said its own investigation is ongoing but confirmed the chant likely was shared during its annual six-day retreat. SAE Executive Director Blaine Ayers said in the statement he believes some members shared the chant during an informal “social gathering” outside of the normal slate of classes, seminars and other educational functions.
“But our investigation to date shows no evidence the song was widely shared across the broader organization,” Ayers said.
Boren said about 25 members of the school’s SAE chapter will face punishments ranging from two expulsions the school announced previously to mandatory community service and cultural sensitivity training. The video, which surfaced earlier this month, showed fraternity members chanting on a chartered bus while headed to a formal event at an Oklahoma City country club with their dates, Boren said.
Boren said the investigation found alcohol was “readily available” at the fraternity house before the start of the event, and that about a dozen high school students whom he described as “potential recruits” were also on the bus.
Beginning in the fall, Boren said, all OU students will be required to take diversity training.
After the video surfaced, Boren immediately severed ties with the local SAE chapter, shuttered the fraternity house and expelled the two members who led the chant.
One of those students, Dallas-area resident Levi Pettit, publicly apologized at a news conference Wednesday in which he was flanked by black community leaders. A second student from the Dallas area, Parker Rice, also issued a statement apologizing for his role in the chant.
Isaac Hill, the president of the university’s Black Student Association, met earlier Friday with Boren and seven student leaders from the defunct SAE chapter, along with some student athletes and members of historically black fraternities. Hill, a junior from Midwest City, Okla.,said each of the fraternity members apologized personally for his role in the chant.
“I believe the students were very sincere in their apologies, and we are all good with that,” Hill said.
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