A national fraternity group has closed its University of Mississippi chapter after three members were accused of tying a noose around the neck of a statue of the first black student to enroll in the Southern college that was all-white at the time.
The university announced Thursday that the national office of Sigma Phi Epsilon, based in Richmond, Va., had closed its Ole Miss chapter.
Besides the noose, someone draped a pre-2003 Georgia state flag with a Confederate battle emblem in its design on the face of the James Meredith statue in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 16. Meredith's enrollment in 1962 set off a violent attack by anti-integration protesters on federal authorities, leaving two people dead and scores injured.
The names of the three students from Georgia haven't been released. They were kicked out of the chapter, which itself had been suspended pending the review.
Ole Miss spokesman Tom Eppes said university disciplinary proceedings against the three students are ongoing. He also said the FBI is still investigating.
The Lafayette County district attorney has said state charges won't be brought because no state laws were broken. Mississippi's hate crime law requires an underlying crime for those additional charges. Because the statute itself wasn't marred or broken, prosecutors say typical vandalism charges don't apply.
After the noose was found, the university asked the national headquarters to review the 130-member chapter, which had been on campus since 1987.
"The closure is not a result of what happened with the Meredith statue, but the Meredith statue precipitated the intensive review of how they conduct business," Blanton said.
Ole Miss and fraternity officials said they found a pattern of underage drinking and hazing which broke both university and Sigma Phi Epsilon rules. University officials said the national office had previously intervened in 2010 to fix similar problems.
"We are disappointed that a pattern of bad behavior and serious, inexcusable hazing occurred within the chapter," Dean of Students Sparky Reardon said in a statement. "Periodic reports from and meetings with local alumni and national headquarters led us to believe that the chapter was improving."
Sigma Phi Epsilon CEO Brian Warren said the group had "no choice" but to close the unit.
"Though it's always painful to close a chapter, these students' actions clearly illustrate a determination to perpetuate an experience based on risky and unconstructive behavior," he said in a statement.
Blanton said students currently living in the Sigma Phi Epsilon house on campus would be allowed to stay and eat meals there through the end of the semester, but would not be allowed to have any social activities. After that, he said the university, which owns the land under the house, and the fraternity would discuss uses for the structure.
Sigma Phi officials said they would discuss a return to campus with the university. It's not clear how long that might take. Blanton said that several years ago, the university did not reinstate the closed chapter of another fraternity until all the members at the time of the closure had graduated.
Administrators have fought against the university's Old South image, banning Confederate battle flags from football games in 2003 and ditching its Colonel Reb mascot for a black bear in 2010. But those efforts have been undermined by unflattering incidents, such as an election night disturbance in November 2012 when some students used racial slurs and profanity to protest President Barack Obama's re-election, or an October 2013 performance of "The Laramie Project" where football players and other students used gay slurs to heckle the play about the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepherd, who was gay.
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Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
Comments
I agree that taking action
I agree that taking action was the best way to handle this. Trying to ignore the incident could have meant a worse reputation for the school and it may have seemed that the school allowed this behavior. Thanks for sharing your thoughts regarding racial and gay slurs. I agree that this too is important.
Ridiculous
It greatly saddens me that these things still go on in the year 2014 in America. This type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable and illustrates exactly what is wrong with people and racial relations in our society. I personally believe that the university is taking the right steps in closing the chapter and sending the message that these type of acts are not to be tolerated. A lot of instances have been ignored or passed over in the past, and it makes me happy to see that some people are actually willing to take the initiative to enact change. I can only hope that as a nation we continue to make progress towards a better society and racial climate.
Ridiculous
I'm shocked as well that issues like this occur. But what is even more shocking, is that racist issues seem to be getting worse! It seems that if not everyday, at least every week there is an issue occurring involving race. I just don't understand.
Names are Unimportant
Good riddance to a fraternity that has, both in this incident and in incidences in the past, proven itself to be a morally poor excuse for a college frat.
While I agree that the students should be punished, the chapter closed, and any other needed disciplinary action taken, I do not feel that the names of the perpetrates should be released to the public. Their classless and distasteful actions should be punished NOW, but these students should not be persecuted for the rest of their lives by a mistake made in what was probably a drunken dare. Releasing names will only fuel the hatred and distrust on campus.
Still amazes me that things like this are still happening on campuses...isn't college where we learn to act responsibly, professionally, and open our minds to accept differences in each person?
Name release
I agree with you on not releasing names. With race being such a sensitive issue, I believe if names were released, those people would be attacked for the rest of their lives. Even though I am sure members of the school know exactly who they are.
I am surprised this is not
I am surprised this is not bigger news. Closing an entire greek chapter is substantial, especially at a large school. I think the closing of this fraternity validates the seriousness of this event and makes an example of this poor behavior. This is event was exceptionally offensive and the repercussions of these actions seem appropriate for the situation. I hope that something can be learned from this event and that other chapters of this fraternity are more considerate of the actions.
Stop this before it happens!
It shouldn't have to take a noose incident to make a fraternity get closed down. There we a series of events that happened prior to this incident to the extent that it probably could of been prevented. Not only that but a fraternity shouldn't be shut down solely on the fact that there was a noosing. If a child kills themselves do the parents immediately lose their other children? No they don't, there must be an investigation put forth before anything irrational is done. The same thing should happen in every situation.
Stop this before it happens!
It shouldn't have to take a noose incident to make a fraternity get closed down. There we a series of events that happened prior to this incident to the extent that it probably could of been prevented. Not only that but a fraternity shouldn't be shut down solely on the fact that there was a noosing. If a child kills themselves do the parents immediately lose their other children? No they don't, there must be an investigation put forth before anything irrational is done. The same thing should happen in every situation.
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