Frat that declared 'there will never be a n*gg*r in SAE' hazed black student to death

[eridani]

Different chapter though.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/10/1369823/-Frat-which-declared-they-ll-never-be-a-nigg-r-in-SAE-recently-killed-hazed-black-pledgee-to-death

Four years ago Cornell University closed down their chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Many members of the fraternity left the school altogether. They had just killed a man.

George Desdunes, an aspiring doctor, was a 19-year-old sophomore from Brooklyn, New York, and the son of Haitian immigrants. His hands and feet were tied with duct tape and zip ties. Blindfolded, he was given so much alcohol that he died within a few hours of the hazing. All alone and completely unconscious, he was found dead by a college cleaning crew the following morning. His mother filed a $25 million wrongful death suit in the case.

On its own merit, the hazing death of George Desdunes is tragic, but when viewed in light of recent racism that has been exposed within the SAE fraternity, one has to wonder if George Desdunes was treated any differently because he was black. When a popular fraternity chant song has violent lines about lynching black men, everything should be on the table.

[Enthusiast]

1. I would remind you when Rush Limbaugh compared water boarding to fraternity hazing.

Harmless fun.

[Scuba]

5. +1,000

[SunSeeker]

2. K & R for exposure. nt

[onenote]

3. While the OU chapter was racist

the fact that another chapter had a black student die in a hazing incident is not in and of itself evidence that the Cornell chapter was racist. Sadly, SAE generally has a history of this thing, involving both white and black students. A white student died in 2008 from alcohol poisoning at Cal Poly while pledging SAE.

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/11/fraternity-ends-pledgingafterhazingdeaths.html

[BumRushDaShow]

4. But in your example, the white pledge wasn't also "duct-taped and zip-tied"

at least based on the article that you linked.

[onenote]

8. Here are a couple of more detailed stories about the Cornell hazing death

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/education/edlife/a-hazing-at-cornell.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://cornellsun.com/blog/2012/05/22/sae-brother-kidnapped-alongside-desdunes-13-gives-testimony-in-criminal-trial/

Both frat brothers were tied up. One was white, one was African-American. I've seen nothing to indicate, including the lawsuit filed by the parents of the student that died, to suggest anyone regarded this incident as having a racial component.

Let me be absolutely clear. I am not defending the OU SAE chapter in any way shape or form. Their continued presence on the campus would not only be disruptive to campus life, but would be highly offensive to any African-American student. I also am not defending hazing practices by other chapters of SAE.

[BumRushDaShow]

11. Thank you

[Omaha Steve]

6. Great post

K&R!

[cstanleytech]

7. You know you would think colleges would have finally taken a firmer hand on hazing

in general by now but it feels to me like they are still condoning it and only do anything if it leads to bad press.

[dolphinsandtuna]

10. frat alums donate major money

[onenote]

12. I believe most universities have policies against hazing

but enforcement is not so easy. The schools can't have people observing what every fraternity does all the time and the students that are subjected to hazing are under extreme peer pressure to go along with it.

[IronLionZion]

17. Many of them do

In my alma mater, there was a frat that had some incidents of physical violence during their hazing and their chapter was thrown out.

[Dont call me Shirley]

9. George...

[DinahMoeHum]

13. Great entry in DK's thread. . .an anti-SAE chant. . .

Oh We don't need racist frats like SAE!
Oh We don't need racist frats like SAE!
We will kick them in the knee,
Every time they try to pee.
Oh we don't need racist frats like SAE!

[GreatGazoo]

14. Chicago frat, Phi Delt, assaulted AA mailman in 2013

Are we really in the 21st Century ? Homophobic and racial slurs that they thought were hysterical:

http://chicagomaroon.com/2013/06/13/phi-delt-denies-involvement-in-bias-incident/

[alarimer]

15. More evidence that fraternities need to be banned.

The whole Greek system serves no useful purpose whatsoever.

[FreedomRain]

16. Chapers at other schools have very little to do with each other usually.

It's a kind of Gran Falloon.

My fraternity at UVA, in the mid to late 80's, was not the sort to appear in the news. It was Greek, it was social. It still exists, and I have no reason to believe that by now it resembles what it was then anymore then it resembles any chapter chosen at random.

It was extremely valuable to me. I don't think we can broad-brush the Greek System without a little more work. If it needs to go, well then thats sad, but acceptable. The case hasn't been made yet for such a drastic action.

To anticipate questions, yes we were mostly white and mostly well-off. There were a few black brothers, a few Jewish brothers, a few stoners, a few ROTC, a few working class. When our Vice President came out as gay at a meeting, we were all silent for a few moments, then somebody put up a motion to change one of our little fun songs from "blanky blanks never eat di**" to "..rarely..." The motion passed unanimously and we went to "any more new business." That was a pretty awesome moment. That's what 'brotherhood' is supposed to be about. I hope it still exists.

Would that have happened at a chapter of the same fraternity at Va. Tech? Kentucky? UVA today? I don't know.