Local SAE president speaks out about OU incident
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JACKSON, Tenn. — Union University Sigma Alpha Epsilon president Andrew Bigelow said he is appalled by racially charged events that surfaced out of the University of Oklahoma chapter. “Our first reaction was honestly just anger and kinda just appalled, and then it kinda just turned into embarrassment,” Bigelow said. “It’s not a reflection of who we are.” Bigelow said a seven-second video showing the University of Oklahoma chapter chanting racial slurs should not be tolerated. “I do think there should be some stronger policies just to make sure something like that would never happen at Union,” he said. “I don’t ever think it would or assume that it would happen here just because it’s kinda a different environment.” Bigelow said Union’s chapter already has a policy in place against this kind of behavior. “We have a no-discrimination policy in our chapter, and when it comes to rush or any other fraternity event we don’t discriminate any minority in any way.” Local SAE members said it is unfortunate this type of hate is tied to their fraternity. “This is not a reflection of SAE here at Union and or country wide,” Bigelow said. “It’s an embarrassment that the actions of one chapter is reflected so poorly on all the members of SAE.” The former members of the fraternity in Oklahoma have until midnight Tuesday to be out of their chapter house. OU’s president said the school’s affiliation with the fraternity is permanently done. Dr. Charles D. Johnson of the Department of History at Lane College also has released a statement regarding the issue: “It must first be understood that the Sigma Alpha Epsilon incident in Oklahoma is part of a larger social issue that cannot be separated from the history of this great nation,” Johnson states in the release. “White supremacy was born during the era of enslavement as a justification for slavery, and sadly incidents such as the one that occurred in Oklahoma remind us as a nation that our work to establish a society free of racial ignorance and hatred is not done.”
