The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s campus was recently suspended when a member reported racial insensitivity and discrimination. As if frats didn’t already have a bad reputation, this racist event definitely does not improve how SAE looks to the national public.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the unidentified member claimed that other fraternity brothers frequently used racial, anti-gay and anti-Semitic slurs towards him since 2014. He also said that at a Halloween party in 2014, another member called him a racial slur and choked him until other brothers separated the two.
UW Madison’s student-led Student Organizations Committee ruled that the fraternity was violating its nondiscrimination requirements and suspended them until Nov. 1. Fraternity members are required to attend diversity, inclusion and mental health training. The leaders of the fraterniety also have to meet with the university Chancellor Rebecca Blank to figure out how to prevent similar occurences in the future before the suspension will be lifted. “The conduct in this situation must not be repeated,” Blank wrote in a letter to SAE’s executive director, according to Reuters.
This is not the only chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon that’s had some issues. SAE at Oklahoma University was shut down after a video surfaced of fraternity brothers yelling a racist chant on a bus.
According to Reuters, the national fraternity apologized for the behavior of the chapter and said that any type of discriminatory behavior is “inconsistent with their expectations.” But with racist allegations on more than one occassion, does the fraternity really encourage inclusion? It seems like more than just a coincidence.