Students, OU officials and community members marched through campus early Monday morning as part of a demonstration in response to a video that surfaced late Sunday evening of a university fraternity participating in a racist chant.
OU Unheard, a coalition of black students at OU, organized the 7:30 a.m. demonstration after a video implicating members of OU Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity spread on social media.
The 10-second video, which started circulating late Sunday evening, shows men on a charter bus signing a chant, saying “There will never be a n***** in SAE” and “You can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me.”
Student gathered around 7 a.m. Monday in front of Evans Hall, and OU President David Boren joined the demonstration around 7:30 a.m.
The demonstration kicked off with a short speech from Boren, in which he said those participating in the chant were “disgraceful” and severed ties with the fraternity.
Afterward, students duct taped their mouths and carried signs into the Oklahoma Memorial Union. Once inside, students left Post-It Notes on the Student Affairs office doors stating their grievances against the university.
One note read: “Education is always the answer.” Another reads: “I’m hurt.” Another: “Expel the perpetrators.”
During the protest biology junior Kumba Sicarr said she was happy with the demonstration’s turnout but that the conversation shouldn’t end with the protest.
“It doesn’t stop at this protest. I believe the university still needs to have a plan of action. This is not the first, and it’s not the last,” Sicarr said.
Several university administrators were at the demonstration, including Student Life director Kirsten Partridge, who said she was impressed with the student turnout and hoped it would promote awareness for students about the prevalence of racial issues.
“I also hope that students in our cultural communities realize how many allies they have. It’s our honor to stand with them against things like hate and racism,” Partridge said.
