Syracuse Reels as Second Offensive Video Is Published of Now-Expelled Fraternity

Syracuse University on Saturday expelled Theta Tau, the fraternity it had suspended days earlier, after the publication of videos showing members taking a racist oath and doing other offensive things.

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In a video statement, the university’s chancellor, Kent Syverud, said individual students would also be subject to disciplinary action, including possible suspension and expulsion. “Yet we know this issue extends beyond one fraternity and one video,” he said, adding that the university had begun a “top to bottom” review of the Greek system.

Later that day, the student newspaper published another video showing fraternity members pretending to sexually assault a disabled person. That prompted Syverud to release another statement in which he said that university officials had seen the video, and that there were other videos that had not been made public. “I believe the second video depicts egregious behavior, including sexual assault, violence, and discriminatory mockery and hostility toward people with disabilities that is unacceptable and deeply harmful in many ways,” he wrote.

After the newspaper, The Daily Orange, published the first video, Theta Tau released a statement apologizing and calling the racist oath a “satirical sketch of an uneducated, racist, homophobic, misogynist, sexist, ableist, and intolerant person.”

The publication of the videos has caused an uproar on the New York campus. On Friday protesters criticized the administration’s handling of the incident and of other issues at a sit-in. They also presented a list of demands to Syverud.

Andy Thomason is a senior editor at The Chronicle. Send him a tip at andy.thomason@chronicle.com. And follow him on Twitter @arthomason.