Editor’s note: This article contains details about the usage of racial slurs.

Syracuse University’s Interfraternity Council expelled the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity indefinitely from campus after several fraternity members yelled a racial slur at a black woman Saturday night.

The national organization for Crow said none of the chapter’s members yelled the epithet. Fraternity members are “horrified and embarrassed to be associated with such conduct,” the statement reads.

The Department of Public Safety announced Saturday night that a group of individuals near College Place yelled the N-word at a woman as she walked by. The department has “substantial evidence,” regarding the incident, including camera footage, eyewitness accounts and interviews, Chancellor Kent Syverud said in an email Sunday morning.

“Our members have fully cooperated with the investigation, including providing hours of voluntary interviews with authorities Saturday night and representatives of the national office are also investigating,” Crow’s national organization said. “Based on what we have learned, we can confirm that no member of Alpha Chi Rho directed racial slurs at anyone.”

An earlier statement from the national organization said it was working with SU to investigate the incident. If it confirmed Crow members were involved, they would be held accountable, according to the statement.

SU suspended the social activities of all fraternities for the rest of the semester in response to Saturday night’s incident. All fraternity members on campus are now required to attend three training sessions relating to Title IX, healthy masculinity and anti-racism and bias, said Dean of Students Marianne Thomson in a Monday campus-wide email.      

At least 11 hate crimes or bias-related incidents have been reported on or around campus since Nov. 7. #NotAgainSU, a movement led by black students, has occupied the lobby of the Barnes Center at The Arch since 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The demonstration was motivated by SU’s delayed communication of racist graffiti against black and Asian people in Day Hall.

Additional racist and bias-related graffiti directed toward Asian people was found in a bathroom in the Physics Building and on the third floor of Day Hall. A swastika drawn in the snow was discovered Thursday afternoon across from the 505 on Walnut, a luxury apartment complex. A racial slur was yelled twice at a freshman, who is Chinese, as he left Day Hall on Friday night, the student said.

 

Published on November 18, 2019 at 9:27 pm

Contact Gabe: gkstern@syr.edu | @gabestern326