Please read and respond to AT LEAST TWO of the following links. Use quotes from each article to support your position and REMEMBER, you need to write AT LEAST 5-8 sentence paragraphs for your responses. EACH RESPONSE should be AT LEAST 2 paragraphs in length. Bonus points for engaging with other student remarks. :)
Article 1:
I don't even know what kind of a question to pose for this story. Perhaps I should simply ask for your thoughts on the matter and your reaction to the issue of such disturbing speech in places of "higher learning."
Fraternity Vows Broader Look Into Use of Racist Chant
Article 2:
Analyze the school's response to the 9-second video clip.
Article 3:
Free speech vs. hate speech. Where do you stand?
Article 4:
Agree or disagree and explain your position.
Article1-I think the all individuals being African Americans, Native Americans or anything else should get allow knowing they are all legally citizens of the same country they live in. I also think the people now are beginning to get along no matter their culture background because now there are marriages and children who are born from 2 totally different culture individuals, as explained in the video he said that they used to shake hands and hugged each other in the games. Also the march where both black and whites where holding arms together. Now a days everyone has the same oportunities where before they didn’t. The process of getting ride off racism is on its way and i think the many people are helping now we just need to help out by helping one another.
ReplyDeleteArticle 1: I feel that these students didn't just become racist out of nowhere. But the fraternity and their parents claim not to be racist. So who's lying? They had to have learned it from somewhere. They need to reevaluate their lives and understand this is wrong. Will the racism ever end? What is the problem with everyone getting along? I guess i'm just wishing for a dream world.
ReplyDeleteArticle 3: I feel that it was hate speech. He is being degrading to black people. And as nelson said “If you’re simply expressing an opinion that doesn't constitute hate speech, you’re probably free to express that opinion, at least privately, but if you do it in a public forum, and in ways that constitute hate speech, there are laws that prohibit that.” Those students shouldn't get away with that Trevon Martin's killer did and like Brown's killer did. We're always letting these evil people go because of "rights", But isn't the point of laws and courts to promote justice? Well i want to see justice. These Racist acts need to stop now or we will never grow as a country. How are we supposed to deal with all the other problems we have if we can't even get along.
Article 4: I was reading through this article thinking this is something that happens in everyday life. You have groups that have the intention of doing well and spreading love. Then you also have those who take things to the extreme and cause a bad look. Unfortunately when both groups are mixed in together only one stands out, the group or that one person is always recognized first and they give a bad name to fraternities. That’s life apparently but this article also spoke about fraternities are a great way to make new friends in college. It’s a family that brings people together and you need that company in college, which is why I feel you shouldn’t ban all fraternities or look down on all of them because of one bad apple. I feel investigations amongst fraternities should occur in order to weed out the bad groups because they make it seem like a form of American apartheid when it’s really not.
ReplyDeleteArticle1: When I witnessed the SAE's racist chant on the media. I was highly upset. It made me think, how long have they been doing this and how many other fraternities part-take in this as well? I was only half way through reading this article when I seen the idiotic comments that one of the members, his parents, and the "house mother" had said. You can tell that their not sincerely upset at what they did, in fact its is like they find it ok. The "house mother" states "I am heartbroken by the portrayal that I am in some way racist", but yet she was the one singing the chant in the video and laughing as well. Mind you she is 79 years old. Let's mention a confederate flag was visible in one of the members room, but the president of the fraternity claims that the Confederate flag had never been a symbol of the fraternity had asked the student to remove the flag. But why does the president of SAE feel the need to inform the member who owns this flag at this point in time? Why hasn't it been brought up before? Is it because they got busted and people are seeing their true colors? Unfortunately only two of the members got expelled but I truly think this entire frat needs to be shut down and the head cabinet members of the frat need to be released of their duties. It is an organization that has had racism written all over it since it started. It will not stop and probably continue its racist ways privately.
ReplyDeleteArticle 2: It is very annoying to keep hearing that members of SAE feel that the chant does not describe who they are. If they weren't what they chanted, they would of have never incorporated the "N" word in their chant, lynching in their chant, their frat name, and most of all they would have never said it. Apparently this frat is known for racist issues throughout different colleges and universities. I find it amusing at how a member who is African American knew nothing about this background history but other white members knew and even wrote a book pertaining to the truth of it. I hope this awakens other universities to investigate in all the Greek life activities whether it deals with racism or any other controversy because these members are continuing a legacy that needs to something people look upon. Not something that can damage this country a put it back to hatred towards diversity. I feel this issue should be a huge eye opener.
Article 2 - I'm honestly very glad that they'd chosen to actually do something instead of sweeping it under the table. Even so, they'd done way too much as for "actually doing something". The entire fraternity didn't deserved to get shut down for some stupid thing a group of freshmen decided to do. With it being possible, they should appeal this action by the University and just allow those who did it to be expelled. Taking down the fraternity is big, attracts a lot of attention and is already turning some applicants away. It is just another form of a small group ruining it for the rest which is not right and it's being taken way too out of proportion.
ReplyDeleteArticle 4 - I agree with the author, I find it that as a reason for some to have a title after them, to set themselves apart from others. As for going off of what the article states, there's little to no "nonwhites" registered to fraternities. There's a big spacing for just anything racial and to a point, is a constant thing. Many were being suspended or for going under blackface or anything relative to the University of Oklahoma's fraternity actions.
Ariticle 1: When I first heard about the incident I was some what nonchalant about it, seeing that racist acts happen on a daily basis.This article just proves that racism is very much alive and its something that in my opinion will never end. I believe that the SAE should come to an end and all the chapters should be closed. This fraternity is obviously one built on racism. The University of Oklahoma was not the first campus that these racist acts have been happening. These students have been trained to hate black people, there is a source to this problem and its either the homes they grew up in or the fraternity itself. "A libertarian group, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said Tuesday that it was unconstitutional for the university to expel fraternity members for their speech, no matter how hateful." How can one not see a problem with what they did? would they have the same reaction if a black person was chanting racial slurs towards whites? No, because if a black person went around shouting racial slurs the outcome would probably be more severe and would have more reactions.
ReplyDeleteArticle 3: This is clearly hate speech. These students were blurting out racial slurs with no regards for the black community.They were happy and cheerful about bashing blacks. If they were doing this in public on a charter bus what takes place behind closed doors? what kind of degrading things do they say about us? "you can hang them from a tree" this sounds like they are promoting the death of African Americans. As Nelon said “As a general proposition, every citizen of the United States has a right to speak his mind, but there are limits to that right,” its the same thing as yelling fire in a movie theater there are limits to the rights. What these students said was degrading and despicable and they should be punished for speaking about human beings in that way.
Article 1:
ReplyDeleteMy opinion on the students that said the racist chant is that they have so much hate in them they don't even see what they did wrong. The good thing is that they got expelled and the took action. Those students really did misuse there free speech no one should say such horrible things, racism is still alive today and it shouldn't be. The fact that the own students that went to the school were changing it was mind blowing, how can you say things like that toward your own peers. Words hurt nothing's funny about a racist joke, not for any type of race.
Article 3:
It's a good thing they took down that house. That just makes the school look stronger and that it won't stand for any form or bullying or violence. The students that participated in this chant deserved to be asked to leave. Every bad decision comes with a price. To me and obviously to the rest of the world it wasn't something to laugh about we take it serious, and I'm glad that school does to. I can only imagine how the rest of the students see there school. No one should feel like an outcast because of the color of your own skin.
Article 3: What was said by these college freshman (no matter how drunk they were at the time...) was disgusting, hateful, and of very poor taste. Before I try to get into the hate speech vs. free speech argument that also has appeared recently in the "Charlie" incident in France that resulted in parts of Paris being paralyzed with terrorism for a few days. I want to clarify that a cost to having freedom of speech is having to deal with cases such as this. However despite the fact that these students were virtually able to say anything they want does not excuse them from any consequences their speech and actions should reap.
ReplyDeleteThe golden rule for a society with free speech would be: "If you do not have something nice to say, do not say anything at all." It clear that these students forgot that rule and something should be done. Whether it be by public condemnation of hateful actions such as this or disciplinary actions taken by the school and fraternity. Since the students were acting as representatives for the fraternity the fraternity does have right to punish them for spreading this false image*. (debatable) The school does also have right to at least suspend the students who took part in the action. However I do not know enough to say what will happen in a courtroom setting if that were the case.
Article 1: By all means we should try to avoid falling into a "guilty by association" type of thinking. However if this particular fraternity across all sectors is displaying this type of behavior then there is a problem with that organization. Based on this article racist comments from the fraternity mother as well as the fact that a confederate flag was in one of the frat house windows does not help this particular branch's argument of not endorsing hateful actions, tendencies, and speech. Also the article tells of other past incidents similar to this recent one that SAE chapters have been involved in. Including actions such as dressing in black face, hosting controversially themed parties, and other "inappropriate remarks/comments"....
I think its safe to say that if its not SAE endorsing this behavior then maybe its just bad luck that this particular organizations attracts a lot of bigoted individuals. That argument is hard to make though being that this organization is responsible for its members actions, especially when they part take in events when they are representing it.
Article 1: In my honest opinion I believe all of this could have been prevented. The article spoke about the song not originating from the college campus and that someone taught them the song. My thing is that if someone taught me a chant that seemed very racist I would be very offended just saying the chant. That's my common sense kicking in and you can tell they didn't have any, specially since they were all drunk singing the song. In this day and age racism is a very controversial problem and no college wants the news to hear about their college students saying racial chants on a video.
ReplyDeleteArticle 1: Honestly, I feel like these students knew what they were doing and they don't care about what they've done. They failed to realize what they've said and how much they've made the university look bad. Because of that, many people could be reconsidering about enrolling into that school because they don't know what else could be going on there that no one wants to talk about. These boys aren't the only people who are in this. If the students weren't racist, then why would they be chanting that racial slur? Saying "there will never be a n***er in the SAE" and "you can hang 'em from a tree." No one is just going to say something like that if they didn't feel some type of way about something. They clearly have something against black people. This also comes back to how these boys were raised. It seems to me that they were brought up in a home where racism is still there, where they're taught that black people cant partake in certain events or clubs white people are in. It seems as if they don't have a mind of their own, listening to their parents.That black people till this day don't deserve to do what white people can do when they can. As said in the article, if they can chant this on a charter bus, imagine what else they've said or done somewhere else. This actually brings this question to my head. "What else have they done or said in a private area that hasn't been released to the public or got released? Better yet, went unnoticed? What has been done behind closed doors?"
DeleteArticle 3: To me, that chant was a hate speech. A hate speech is a speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or other traits. No one can sit here and say that the speech it wasn't. There are many people not only from this university but all across the country that are beyond disgusted about what was said. Although you are free to say what you want, you cant just say anything you want and not expect consequences to certain things you say. In the chant that this fraternity SAE was saying, the speech was clearly a racist one. The fraternity made the school look bad and I'm happy that they are expelled from the school and that the house has been taken down. Drunk or not, those slurs shouldn't have been said. I truly believe the saying "drunk feelings are sober thoughts". Being drunk showed the boys true colors. Their lawyers are trying to hide behind the first amendment but they cant hide behind the college speech codes. I know this situation made a lot of people at the university feel some type of way and make them not want to attend this school. I honestly wouldn't want to attend it. It makes me question how many other people are just like them but just didn't caught.
My opinion on the university of Oklahoma issue is that they have their right to say whatever they please but have to face the consequences that come after. Also the school has to deal with those consiquences to because everything that happened with the fraternity is affecting future sports commitments with students in the school. People are also denying their acceptance letter because of that.
ReplyDeleteArticle 3
ReplyDeleteFreedom is speech is strong, but should be controlled to a limit, up to where it becomes racism. I do not believe in hate speech and racism I think it is very wrong, Every Human is a human, just because there colored doesn't mean there aliens or creatures their normal human beings, I think groups who use racism to promote should be shut down and terminated, hate speech should be controlled.
Article 1
The two kids who were singing should be punished, maybe take their scholarships or just kick them out if they are identified, I’m disgusted with the behavior of those two kids, college students just acting that way, even if they were drunk it’s inexcusable I think the protest of hate speech and the shutting down of the fraternity is a good choice.
Article 1: Racism has been around for many years now and i do too believe it should be stopped. The boys who said that chant should be punished. They gave their college a bad image and also gave themselves a bad image as well. As Shanique said, they were trained to hate blacks .. these boys didnt just come into the world with such hate. Racism should be stopped because no one should be judged by the color of their skin. These boys chanted on video "you can hang 'em from a tree.", this behavior is unbelievable. I also agree with Shanique that if the roles were reversed and it was a black person making the racial slurs to whites, the consequences would be different.
ReplyDeleteArticle 3: I believe that these boys' chants were hate speeches. Even though they have the freedom to say what they please, the fact that they were being hateful to others makes it a hate speech. As Kendra said, a hate speech is "... is a speech that offends, threatens, or insults groups, based on race, color...". The excuse they gave was that they were drunk. It doesnt matter how drunk you were, there is a reason why people say "dont drink too much", you can do and say stuff you most likely dont mean but still suffer the consequences. I also believe that "A drunk mind speaks sober thoughts". People are more likely to tell the truth while intoxicated than being sober because they have no control of what they are saying. I hate when people try to use the first amendment to defend themselves to harm or offend others. The first amendment allows to you say what you want but you still go through the consequences for what you say that may offend others. Like if you want to say "bomb" on a plane, you can BUT you're going to get kick off the plane. Even if they try to use freedom of speech as an argument, shouldnt it still be wrong because it was racist?
Article 3: I do believe that what the students said is hate speech, however these students are still free to say whatever they want. Joey Senat, OSU media law professor, who has dealt with First Amendment issues for years, said “even unpopular, hateful speech is protected by the First Amendment,”. Senat also said many colleges have speech codes, but the federal courts have consistently struck them down as violating the First Amendment. Even though what these students were saying was extremely racist, they are still able to say these things under the First Amendment. If the school were to kick the students out, then, like said in the article, they would probably face lawsuits and lose them. Even if there are speech codes on record, and every student acknowledged them, that does not mean its enforceable.
ReplyDeleteArticle 1: I agree with what Sheyanne says about how these students probably didn’t become racist all of a sudden. The parents and fraternity claim to not be racist, but then what provoked these students. Maybe there is more to this situation than meets the immediate surface. To expand off of what else she said, racism will never die, in the same sense that all ideas will never die. There is nothing you can do to change the way people think, you can try, you may succeed occasionally, but most of the time people don’t want to change. One thing I do not agree with the schools decision is kicking about 70 of the fraternity members out of their house. Now not everyone from the fraternity was involved in the bus chants, so this shouldn't mean everyone has to be punished for the mistakes of others.
Article 1: I think that its no secret that racism is still alive and ongoing in our society today. I think this is a very big issue that we still deal with as well. As for the two students who became expelled, it was a well deseved punishment. Its sad when people of other race cant even feel safe or comfortable in their own schools and town. This is a issue that should be brought more to peoples attention and should also be taken more seriously. This to me is an outrage and highly disrespectful being african american myself. I agree with the students being expelled from the school for this matter.
ReplyDeleteArticle 4: I agree completely with the athletes at the University of Oklahoma. Their feelings are completely justified in this matter. Nobody should have to feel out of place because of their race and feternity students taking that comfortability and making a mokery of it is very disrepectful and degrading. Racism has been a rapidly growing issue due to the Eric Gardner case and also Mike Brown. This is similar but yet has its differences. I feel that more action should be taken on issues such as these.
Article 1: I believe frats are a form of American Apartheid. Fraternities and Sororities are largely segregated by race, money and power, yet most of us find it unsurprising. This has most likely been going on for a while, but someone finally just happen to catch it on video and release it. Its really is disturbing that things like this are still happening in the society we live in today. But racism is still everywhere. " Instead of looking at the fraternity member as bad apples, we should see them as part of a bad orchard. The orchard include, but isn't limited to, Greek organizations.....Its also includes the rest us and the country's racist history. These words hold a lot of meaning and truth to them. The fraternities are just a small piece of the racism that is happening in this country. This incident Is an eye opener to everyone like the Eric Gardner case.
ReplyDeleteRacist incidents just keep happening one after another. Now with technology and the media everyone knows about everything that happens. This incident with the fraternity at Oklahoma is truly wrong. It's an eye opener and example of all the racist occurrences that has been happening. Expelling the two students was the right move to make when tackling this issue but should the actions of these two student reflect the whole fraternity. They already shut down some of the stuff and innocent people are losing their jobs. I think they should keep everything open, but do a thorough investigation and closely monitor the fraternity.
ReplyDeleteArticle 1: This is disgusting. It still shocks me that people are still dwelling over racism. We've fixed the problems of race when it comes to the law, and even with the people by getting rid of segregation and unfair treatments on people because of their color. If color wasn't going to be judged, people found other was to separate themselves from others by then attacking gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc. So to stop that we did the same and it's still shocking to see things like this. One thing we cannot change is information passed on by older generations onto then newer generations, but is the new generation the one to blame? This fraternity needs to be punished and I believe their school should taken SERIOUS action on this matter. The hate between races has to be the most violent type of hate we have in 'people vs people' crimes.
ReplyDeleteArticle 4: No, I strongly believe fraternities and sororities try to always give back to their college's community, and to the college. This fraternity, however, gave a true statement of how wrong a frat can propose beliefs. Each frat and sorority have its beliefs, but the norm are beliefs of the importance of education, fairness, independence, responsibility and things around that area. The Greeks usually always try and set many examples of how to stand out(in a good way) and how to better yourself for you and other people. Greeks are known to always be recognized for their good qualities and the good things they do, but there's always going to be bad apples in the basket. One of probably a few have/express their morals wrong, and if they do it they should be taken into a serious manner.
Artictle 3 // I think OSU president can and cannot discipline SAE fratemity members for many different reasons. Yes what happened can and can’t be wrong but now in days students do things and even say things, weather it’s hurtful or not, they don’t know the true meaning of it. As Nelon said “As a general proposition, every citizen of the United States has a right to speak his mind, but there are limits to that right,” which means that everyone may speak their mind but there are certain limitations. Basically these guys were just speaking their mind. Clearly they were off campus but they should have been aware of their surroundings. Due to technology there are so many cameras and everyone is always on their phone using social networks.
ReplyDeleteArticle 1: While reading through the article, knowing the history that the south has, its likely that the fraternity guys did pick up the racial slurs from past members and family members but it was wrong for the amount of times they have posted it on social media and wrong for even singing the chant. Since the "house mother" is 79 years old she probably grew up with the racial slurs as well and its probably why she did not put a stop to it. The students who got expelled shouldn't have been singled out since in fraternities it is a brotherhood and they do everything together.
ReplyDeleteArticle 4 // Reading throughout this article there are many things I certainly agree and disagree with. In the generation we live in, now in days stuff like this happens everyday. Stuff happen like this in either a good or bad way. There's always the good and bad people in the world. Others make good and bad choices. But everyone makes mistake and they know what should and what shouldn't be done. Yes theres people who make dumb choice but when they make dumb choices, there'll then notice who are there real friends and whose gonna actually like them for what they did. Fraternities shouldn't be banned because of one person. Why should that one person make all of us get punished. We didn't do nothing. That one person should get punished if h or she did something wrong. If someone was involve or knew something about then they should also get punish.
ReplyDeleteArticle 2
ReplyDeleteI Feel As if this should not be taken lightly because if it was vice versa this whole situation would have been dragged forever....Just because there in a fraternity that is somewhat legendary and just because they may be in the high class of people does not mean that just an apology should get them off the hook like that especially with everything else going on in the world and plus in some states where racism still occurs.
Article 3
ReplyDeleteI Think the OU President was not wrong for taking the Actions he did in closing that house and making the people pack their bags and leave because if he was to just let them dye down and try and forget about it who knows what that fraternity could have done next and who knows what anybody on campus who took this personal would have done next because now-a-days people don't think before they do.....they just do it with no type of remorse and then wanna feel bad about it and that's not cool nor does it make it right
Article 1- Reading this article gets me so upset because it's 2015. We shouldn't have to hear this on the news and relive what is African Americans went through to get where we are today. They all knew what they were doing and they knew that it was inappropriate, I believe that they all deserve to be expelled
ReplyDeleteArticle 3 - I believe that the OU President did the right thing. By closing the Frat house it showed the students that this is a serious issue. Racism is nothing to be played with. This shouldn't even be a problem in 2015 but our Society is so bad. How do you even go home to tell your parents that you got expelled for something so ignorant? But then again their parents might just be the ones who raised them to be this ignorant. This is just sad and I believe that the "students" got what they deserved and because of this they can even get rejected from other colleges they try to transfer to. They will always be remembered for this and it can really mess up their future goals.
ReplyDeleteArticle 4 // Reading throughout this article there are many things I certainly agree and disagree with. In the generation we live in, now in days stuff like this happens everyday. Stuff happen like this in either a good or bad way. There's always the good and bad people in the world. Others make good and bad choices. But everyone makes mistake and they know what should and what shouldn't be done. Yes theres people who make dumb choice but when they make dumb choices, there'll then notice who are there real friends and whose gonna actually like them for what they did. Fraternities shouldn't be banned because of one person. Why should that one person make all of us get punished. We didn't do nothing. That one person should get punished if h or she did something wrong. If someone was involve or knew something about then they should also get punish
ReplyDeleteArtictle 3 // I think OSU president can and cannot discipline SAE fratemity members for many different reasons. Yes what happened can and can’t be wrong but now in days students do things and even say things, weather it’s hurtful or not, they don’t know the true meaning of it. As Nelon said “As a general proposition, every citizen of the United States has a right to speak his mind, but there are limits to that right,” which means that everyone may speak their mind but there are certain limitations. Basically these guys were just speaking their mind. Clearly they were off campus but they should have been aware of their surroundings. Due to technology there are so many cameras and everyone is always on their phone using social networks.
ReplyDeleteArtictle 3 // I think OSU president can and cannot discipline SAE fratemity members for many different reasons. Yes what happened can and can’t be wrong but now in days students do things and even say things, weather it’s hurtful or not, they don’t know the true meaning of it. As Nelon said “As a general proposition, every citizen of the United States has a right to speak his mind, but there are limits to that right,” which means that everyone may speak their mind but there are certain limitations. Basically these guys were just speaking their mind. Clearly they were off campus but they should have been aware of their surroundings. Due to technology there are so many cameras and everyone is always on their phone using social networks.
ReplyDeleteAs Two Oklahoma Students Are Expelled for Racist Chant, Sigma Alpha Epsilon Vows Wider Inquiry
ReplyDeleteExpelling the students is unconstitutional because it’s like freedom of speech to express how they feel about a certain group. Although these students are in an university, old and knowledgeable enough to know right from wrong. The students were well aware the violence and hatred it can create. It can also cause bad views and cause future applicants to no longer want to attend the school. The two students doing the racist chant in a diverse school is a naïve move.
In my opinion the students should be expelled and it should be legal. This is due to the fact that students get expelled for fights, or smoking in a non smoking area. So why two students, who caused a huge commotion towards the school, not get expelled? The negative attention on the school and the disobedience of the students are two reasons they should be expelled. Let along all the big problems and fights the chant can cause. Campuses need a peaceful environment and any student to disrupt any other student’s education, should be removed.