Fraternity Racism

HATE SPEECH IN GREEK CULTURE

by Alexis Huefner, Brett Barratt, Carmelita Martinez, Daniel Bye, & Taylor Evans

What is hate speech?

Hate speech is defined as speech that

attacks, threatens, or insults a person
or group on the basis of national
origin, ethnicity, color, religion,
gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation or disability.

Image courtesy of independent.co.uk

Hate speech or Hate Crime?

Hate Speech

Similar motivations,
however:Hate Crime

Involves the words a person says

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org

Involves an actual crime or violence

Image courtesy of pinterest.com

Is hate speech legally protected?

It comes down to the difference between free
speech and hate speech. Should you be allowed
to say anything? What is protected under the
constitution?
According to Sheldon H. Nahmod, The First
Amendment:
Protects us from the government
Does not apply to relations between private
persons
Is not absolute ... freedom of speech has
costs

Image courtesy of hdnux.com

Supreme Court considerations

The Supreme Court has decided that acts
but not speech may be regulated by law
(Students in Action).
The debate continues, but for now the law
is staying out of decisions about hate
speech.

Image courtesy of giaom.com

Collegiate Hate Speech

University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
March of 2015 members of fraternity Sigma Alpha
Epsilon were caught on video singing a racist chant
"There will never be a ni**** SAE. You can hang
him from a tree, but he can never sign with me.
There will never be a ni**** SAE.
Video went viral on campus then nationally via
social & traditional media
Image courtesy of spiked-online.com

Collegiate Hate Speech

Far-reaching Impact
Numerous SAE chapters at other campus were investigated. SAE Head
office noticed issues across the country with similar problems
Their University of Washington chapter was recently accused of
shouting racial slurs in the month of March to a group of African
American students
Four star football recruit, Jean Delance, decommits from the Oklahoma
University team
Some have raised questions about freedom of speech saying that the SAE
members didnt incite action and that their speech was covered by the First
Amendment

Incident at the University of

Oklahoma
March 2015, University of Oklahoma
The guilty parties consisted of students
from wealth
Members of fraternity Sigma Alpha
Epsilon were caught on video singing a
racist chant
Video went viral via social & traditional
media

Video courtesy of YouTube

Was it hate speech?

Insulting

Used a specific word deemed

insulting to African Americans
Threatening

Referenced lynching, to kill

(someone), especially by hanging, for an
alleged offense with or without a legal trial
Based

on ethnicity or color Terms used

specifically to reference African Americans

Image courtesy of talent.com

The aftermath of the incident

University officials expelled identified members Parker Rice and Levi

Pettit

Rice claimed in apology, Yes, the song was taught to us, but not by
whom

Fraternity house chef Howard Dixon, a black male, lost his job

Fraternity house mother Beauton Ma B Gilbow, a white female,

claimed to have never heard the song, but video of her using the
same language surfaced afterward

University of Oklahoma SAE chapter was shut down

Image courtesy of cnn.com

Conclusions: What did you learn?

Prejudice is more common that we thought

Social media is a great outlet to spread this
type of behavior and get results
Colleges take this type of behavior very
seriously and will expel students
The differences between hate speech and
hate crimes

Image courtesy of questioning-islam.com

Conclusions: Do we agree with the

outcome?
Overall, given student guidelines (specifically sections IV.A,
VI.1, and VI.13), we believe the expulsion of the identifiable
students and the severing of ties with SAE was an
appropriate response
The following could have been done differently
More effort could have been put into identifying all
parties involved rather than just the two students
There should have been some effort by the University
to find the fired chef a new job

Conclusions: What was your group

process? What would you do
different?
Conversed and made decisions in Canvas discussions
Created the project on Google drive; all changes were tracked
and saved
The group worked well together, everyone contributed to the final
product
Meeting via SKYPE, FaceTime, or in person can hold members
more accountable

Conclusions: Did the research

change you in any way?
Yes, it gave me a different outlook and perspective when looking at the total picture
rather than just going off of what social media had to say.-Carmelita
The research did not change me but it did surprise me. I thought the law was more
involved in prosecuting these types of crime but speech is such a protected right its
a difficult line to distinguish.- Alexis
The research didnt change me. Ive been acutely aware of the hate that can be
expressed by people toward one another for the majority of my life. - Daniel
The research changed the way I look at how social media influences and shapes the
way we find issues of hate speech. It travels very quickly - Taylor
The research reinforced my beliefs. The law gives you the freedom to speak your
mind, but with the rapid pace of social media, you must carefully consider the
consequences. - Brett

REFERENCES

BRANSON-POTTS, H., DUARA, N., & PEARCE, M. (2015) RACIST FRATERNITY CHANT MAY NOT BE
LIMITED TO UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA. RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://WWW.LATIMES.COM/NATION/LA-NA-OKLAHOMA-FRATERNITY-RACIST-CHANT-20150311-STORY.
HTML
FRATERNITY LOGO LINK
HATE SPEECH. DICTIONARY.COM. RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://DICTIONARY.REFERENCE.COM/BROWSE/HATE+SPEECH
MCLAUGHLIN, ELLIOT C. (2015). REPORT: UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA STUDENT APOLOGIZES FOR
RACIST CHANT. RETRIEVED FROM HTTP://WWW.CNN.COM/2015/03/10/US/OKLAHOMA-RACIST-CHANT/
NAHMOD, SHELDON H. (2013). KNOW YOUR CONSTITUTION (5): FREE SPEECH AND HATE SPEECH.
NAHMOD LAW. RETRIEVED FROM
HTTP://NAHMODLAW.COM/2013/12/04/KNOW-YOUR-CONSTITUTION-5-FREE-SPEECH-AND-HATE-SPEEC
H/
STUDENTS IN ACTION. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, DIVISION FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. RETRIEVED
FROM
HTTP://WWW.AMERICANBAR.ORG/GROUPS/PUBLIC_EDUCATION/INITIATIVES_AWARDS/STUDENTS_IN_A
CTION/DEBATE_HATE.HTML
Kingkade, T. (2015, March 12). After Oklahoma Racism Incident, SAE Chapters At Other Campuses
Face Scrutiny. Retrieved April 8, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/12/racism-sae-chapters_n_6857500.html

REFERENCES

King, Shaun. (2015, March 10). Frat that declared there will never be a n*gg*r in SAE hazed black
student to death. Retrieved April 13, 2015 from http://www.dailykos.com/
Svokos, A. (2015, March 13). University Of Washington SAE Accused Of Shouting Racial Slurs At
'Black Lives Matter' Protesters. Retrieved April 8, 2015, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/university-of-washington-sae-racism_n_6864674.html
Washington, E. (2015, March 10). Oklahoma fraternity's racist chant has far-reaching repercussions.
Retrieved April 8, 2015, from
http://www.examiner.com/article/oklahoma-fraternity-s-racist-chant-has-far-reaching-repercussions
Randazza, M. (2015, March 20). What we risk when we ban racist speech (Opinion) - CNN.com.
Retrieved April 8, 2015, from http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/20/opinions/randazza-offensive-speechfirst-amendment/
Pearce, M., Lee, K., & Branson-Potts, H. (2015, March 9). Oklahoma fraternity's racist chant may cost
its black chef his job. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-university-oklahoma-racist-fraternity-sae-20150309-h
tmlstory.html
Boren, D. (2015, Mar 9). Upadted statement attached - DBo {Twitter Post} Retrieved from
https://twitter.com/President_Boren/status/574936841843052544

University of Oklahoma Board of Regents (2011, Sep 19). Student rights and responsibilities code
2014-2015. Retrieved from http://www.ou.edu/content/dam/studentlife/documents/AllCampusStudentCode.pdf
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/university-of-oklahoma-sigma-alpha-epsilon-racist-fraternityvideo.html?_r=0

grade summary sheet

Alexis Huefner---- 50, 50, 50, 50

Brett Barratt---- 34, 40, 40, 40
Carmelita Martinez----50, 50, 50, 50
Daniel Bye ------50, 50, 50, 50
Taylor Evans---- 37, 40, 40, 50
Place the grade next to each individual name on a number scale 0-50. Type your name at the bottom of the slide
indicating you have graded each member
1. Carmelita Martinez
2. Alexis Huefner
3. Daniel Bye
4. Taylor Evans
5. Brett Barratt