Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity could sue University of Oklahoma

An attorney who says he has been hired by the University of Oklahoma’s embattled Sigma Alpha Epsilon says the fraternity is considering legal action against the school.

In response to the release of a video showing SAE fraternity members leading a racist chant, the school president, David Boren, this week closed the fraternity and expelled two students connected to the incident.

Oklahoma lawyer Stephen Jones told the Oklahoman and local news station KFOR that the fraternity chapter’s board hired him on Thursday. He said fraternity alumni asked him to review their legal options and that the two expelled students have not hired him.

Jones has represented high-profile figures including terrorist Timothy McVeigh and activist Abbie Hoffman.

“We can find a solution that is acceptable to everyone to make this a teachable moment and educational moment for what is a seriously flawed incident,” Jones said at a press conference in Oklahoma City on Friday.

“It was president Boren himself, who said in a recent case, that every student at the University of Oklahoma deserves a second chance, and we certainly think that’s true for the members of the SAE house and perhaps even for the members who are involved in this unfortunate confrontation with the university and the basic values of SAE,” Jones said.

Some legal experts have said Boren’s actions overstep free speech rights and are subject to legal action. The ACLU of Oklahoma said the school should engage in a more broad conversation about racism on campus.

“This is a teaching moment that requires a consistent commitment to honest and open dialogue that does not stop at simply punishing those who spew hate and prejudice on video, but rather, combats the core of that hate and prejudice,” ACLU of Oklahoma legal director, Brady Henderson, said in a statement. “The University of Oklahoma has an opportunity to engage in just such a dialogue, and we need to ensure that we don’t miss that opportunity in the rush to punish racist speech.”

Jones on Friday downplayed the indication that his assistance meant the situation would be resolved through legal action. “I am not ruling out a lawsuit, I’m saying that our preference is to proceed in a non-legal solution, a non-adversarial solution and a non-litigation solution,” he said.

Jones said that the issues to be deliberated range from real estate to student safety, which he said is their priority right now.

“We view it as a potentially volatile situation,” he said. “That’s why I think we need to avoid a rush to judgement, we need to lower our voices and we need to take a breath.”

Jones said that the two students may have withdrawn from the school on Monday, before Boren announced that they had been expelled.

An SAE chapter at the University of Washington is also under investigation for a reportedly racist incident in which fraternity members called black demonstrators “apes” during a February Black Lives Matter protest, according to the Seattle Times. One of the marchers, Zane Suarez, said he was upset about the chants, but moved on. He ultimately decided to share it after seeing the Oklahoma video.

The University of Washington SAE president, Michael Hickey, told the newspaper that the comments were made by people standing near the house who are not a part of the fraternity. “We pride ourselves in the diversity of our chapter membership and racism is against the moral ethics of our local and national organisation,” Hickey said.