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THURSDAY
april 19, 2018 high 38°, low 30°
t h e i n de p e n de n t s t u de n t n e w s pa p e r of s y r a c u s e , n e w yor k |
dailyorange.com
I SOLEMNLY SWEAR
TO ALWAYS HAVE
HATRED
IN MY HEART SU suspends Theta Tau fraternity after video of ‘extremely racist’ behavior surfaces
By Catherine Leffert, Jordan Muller, Sam Ogozalek and Kennedy Rose
T
the daily orange
he Syracuse University chapter of Theta Tau was suspended Wednesday morning after the university confirmed it was involved in the creation of online videos showing fraternity members engaging in behaviors that were “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a campus-wide email. In recordings obtained by The Daily Orange showing the videos, which were filmed in Theta Tau’s house, a person forces another person to his knees and asks him to repeat an “oath” including racial slurs. “I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*ggers, sp*cs and most importantly the f*ckin’ k*kes,” the person on his knees repeats. The videos were posted in a secret Facebook group called “Tau of Theta Tau” by a user named David Yankowy III, the recordings show. Yankowy was listed as a member of Theta Tau on the SU fraternity chapter’s website before the site was made inaccessible Wednesday afternoon. Yankowy, who is listed in SU’s directory as a senior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Several videos filmed in the house were uploaded in the secret Facebook group. In one recording, a person, using anti-Semitic language, yells at two other people. “You f*ckin’ k*kes, get in the f*ckin’ showers,” he says, and the two people run out of the room as others laugh. In another recording, a person sits down in a rolling chair and a different person yells, “He’s drooling out of his mouth because he’s retarded in a wheelchair.”
At one point, one person tells others to “… Get together and (talk) about their significant others while drinking different wines and talking in gay girly accents.” “I am appalled and shaken by this and deeply concerned for all members of our community,” Syverud said in the email. The chancellor said that, upon confirming Theta Tau’s involvement in the videos, the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities immediately suspended the fraternity. SU’s Department of Public Safety has launched an investigation into the incident to identify individuals and to take additional legal and disciplinary action, Syverud said. Theta Tau is a professional engineering fraternity at 1105 Harrison St. The fraternity’s national office did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Alexander Fox, who was listed on the SU chapter’s website as the fraternity’s regent, also did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Fox was listed as an administrator or moderator in the secret Facebook group. A protest erupted on campus Wednesday evening as students demanded that the university release the videos. Protesters gathered outside Syverud’s house, which is across the street from Theta Tau. Some students on Twitter started posting the hashtag “#WheresTheVideoSU.” “We are not (Theta Tau),” said Liam McMonagle, a protest organizer and sophomore broadcast and digital journalism major. “They are not us. And they do not represent this community.” Tayla Myree, a sophomore studying political science and history, spoke and chanted in a megaphone as she held up a sign that read, “Apathy is complicity.”
Hundreds of community members protest SU’s handling of Theta Tau video By Kennedy Rose
see suspension page 6
Student Association calls for audit of SU Greek life By Catherine Leffert and Daniel Strauss
asst. news editor
the daily orange
About 100 Syracuse University community members gathered in front of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s and Theta Tau’s house to protest SU’s refusal to release videos showing people in the Theta Tau house engaging in what the chancellor described in an email as “extremely racist” behavior. The university did not release the videos to the public, but The Daily Orange obtained recordings of one of the videos and posted it on its website Wednesday night. The videos were posted in a secret Facebook group called “Tau of Theta Tau” by a user named David Yankowy III, the recordings see protest page 6
Theta Tau is a professional engineering fraternity near SU located at 1105 Harrison St. alexandra moreo senior staff photographer
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The Syracuse University Student Association is calling on the university to conduct an audit of all Greek life in the wake of the suspension of the Theta Tau fraternity on Wednesday. Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, was suspended after SU confirmed the organization was involved in creating videos showing fraternity members using language that was “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a campus-wide email. SA President James Franco and Vice President Angie Pati requested an extensive audit of all fraternities
and sororities on campus, including social, professional and multicultural organizations. “It would be an external review from members outside of the university community,” Franco said. “Experts who are nationwide on Greek life, they would work with individual chapters and national chapters and just review, again, operations of Greek life on campus to see what goes well and what could be improved.” Both Franco and Pati said the audit’s goal would not be to eliminate Greek life. The audit would determine what Greek organizations are doing well and not well, with an intention of sharing that information with the community, Franco said. Pati said the audit had been discussed with SU administrators see audit page 6