OKLAHOMA CITY — Alumni of the University of Oklahoma fraternity shut down after its members were linked to a racist song have hired an attorney and may file a civil lawsuit over the punishment dispensed by the school, officials said on Friday.
Attorney Stephen Jones confirmed that he had been hired by alumni of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity but did not say what steps he may be taking.
Alumni told the Daily Oklahoman they believe university President David Boren may have overstepped his bounds by closing the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house on campus and expelling two members.
The 10-second video was shot on a bus chartered for a date night by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and posted online Sunday. Students are seen and heard chanting in unison, using offensive language referring to black people and vowing never to admit them to the fraternity.
The university is investigating the officers of the fraternity and will create the post of vice president of diversity to help prevent another flare-up of racial tensions, the school said Thursday.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national body said it supported the expulsion and is investigating whether other chapters have used the same song. The University of Texas has been looking into the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter on its campus. A chapter also is being investigated by the University of Washington, where black students say members hurled slurs at them during a protest, the Seattle Times reported.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon said Friday that its headquarters and national fraternity did not intend to pursue legal action against the University of Oklahoma, though it was aware of reports of local fraternity alumni hiring a lawyer.
The Dallas Morning News identified the two students as Levi Pettit, 20, and Parker Rice, 19. Pettit’s parents and Rice issued apologies Tuesday.
In an incident involving another fraternity, a University of Maryland spokesman said officials were investigating a January 2014 email containing racist and sexist language allegedly written by a member of the Kappa Sigma house.
The email was sent to several fraternity members and used “language disparaging the importance of sexual consent,” spokesman Brian Ullmann said.
The national chapter of Kappa Sigma on Friday called the email inexcusable and said the student involved has resigned from the fraternity.