The surfacing of a video that has led to an outcry over its content being racist, anti-semitic, sexist and homophobic, prompted Syracuse University to suspend one of its fraternities on Wednesday, April 18.
Administrators took action within hours of the school's independent newspaper (The Daily Orange) releasing footage of the recording. In it, members of the campus' Theta Tau chapter are seen joking and acting out sketches that were so troubling it sparked immediate protests from the student body. Following a community dialogue that was put together by Wednesday afternoon, roughly 100 people marched and then eventually settled in for a three-hour discussion that was attended by hundreds more.
"The conduct is deeply harmful and contrary to the values and community standards we expect of our students. There is absolutely no place at Syracuse University for behavior or language that degrades any individual or group's race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity, disability or religious beliefs," a release put out by the school stated.
The suspension came only one day after California Polytechnic State University suspended all frats and sororities over the rearing of photos that showed students wearing blackface. The incident was brought up during Syracuse's evening dialogue, as was a 2014 incident involving women's soccer players using racist slurs at the private university.
