Sigma Alpha Epsilon, whose University of Oklahoma chapter garnered national attention after a video surfaced showing members engaged in racist chants, has hired a “director of diversity and inclusion.”
The new director, Ashlee Canty, has previously been involved “in fraternity and sorority affairs at DePaul University and Syracuse University.”
Canty, who is African-American, also will work with local chapters to develop a system for monitoring and reporting diversity statistics.
The position is part of an initiative announced by the Evanston, Illinois-based fraternity in March after members of the now-defunct OU chapter were recorded taking part in a chant that included a reference to lynching and used a racial slur to describe how black students would never become members. At the time, SAE’s Executive Director Blaine Ayers acknowledged the chant was likely shared at the fraternity’s six-day retreat during an informal “social gathering” outside the normal slate of classes and seminars.
After the video came to light, OU President David Boren ordered two students expelled, severed ties with the local chapter and closed down the fraternity house. More than 20 other members of the chapter faced punishment that included mandatory community service and cultural sensitivity training.
The fraternity also announced in March that it was reviewing all 237 chapters for racially offensive behaviors, but a spokesman said Thursday that investigation hasn’t been completed.
It was back in early March that the university’s student newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily, first received an anonymous tip about the frat’s video.
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