University President David Boren Tuesday announced two students were shown the door after being identified as instigators of the chanting.
“I have acted today to expel two students who were leaders in the singing of a racist chant,” Boren said in a statement, adding these students had created a hostile environment for students and the university community.
Boren stressed that the investigation continues and when the identities of others involved are confirmed, they will face “appropriate disciplinary action.”
“I have emphasized that there is zero tolerance for this kind of threatening racist behavior at the University of Oklahoma,” Boren said. "I hope the entire nation will join us in having zero tolerance of such racism when it raises its ugly head in other situations across our country."
Unheard, a black student group at OU, posted the video on Sunday, and it shows members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on a rented bus singing a song with racial slurs targeting blacks. The song mentions lynching and states that blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity's chapter at the university.
As soon as the video was made public, university officials moved quickly, severing ties with the fraternity and ordering all members to leave the fraternity house by Tuesday evening.
Boren said he hope the students in the video learn from the experience and realize that “it is wrong to use words to hurt, threaten, and exclude other people."
Approximately 5% of the university’s 30,000 students at the university are African American.
