SEATTLE — Black students at the University of Washington are alleging that members of a fraternity called African-American protesters “apes” as they marched past the frat house during a campus Black Lives Matter protest last month.
But the president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon says the fraternity has conducted its own investigation and does not believe its members were involved.
University officials said they are investigating, but do not yet know what happened, or who was responsible.
A group of young men allegedly made “grossly insensitive comments and rude gestures aimed at the marchers,” said Denzil Suite, vice president for Student Life. “The behavior described is completely inconsistent with the university’s values and expectations.”
He called such behavior “unacceptable.”
UW officials are asking anyone with photos, recordings or videos of the incident to email them to the Student Life office at OFSLuw.edu.
Earlier this month, the SAE chapter at the University of Oklahoma was abruptly closed by the fraternity’s national organization after a video surfaced of SAE members reciting racist chants on a bus. The university later expelled two students.
The UW’s Black Student Union has asked for a formal apology from the SAE fraternity for allegedly calling African-American students names, booing and making obscene gestures during the Feb. 25 march, which was organized to raise awareness about racism.
Student Dirir Abdullahi said he heard several white men shouting racial slurs from the front yard of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house while he and hundreds of others marched by. Zane Suarez, another student who participated in the march, said he witnessed four or five men on the second-floor balcony of the fraternity who were booing and making obscene gestures.
But some students who participated said that while they observed some men near the fraternity acting disrespectfully toward marchers, they aren’t certain they were fraternity members.
In a statement, Michael Hickey, president of the UW’s SAE chapter, said SAE members also heard the offensive comments, but that they were coming from nonmembers who were standing on the sidewalk near the chapter house. He said he did not have any information about students yelling from the balcony.
Hickey said the fraternity members were “concerned and shocked by these allegations, as we pride ourselves in the diversity of our chapter membership and racism is against the moral ethics of our local and national organization.”
He said the fraternity is committed to working with others “to help hold those accountable for their offensive behavior on Feb. 25.”
The alleged incident occurred as the protest march moved onto the UW campus at 17th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 45th Street, directly across from the SAE fraternity house.
“There were several students who were screaming out loud, ‘You apes, why are you here on our campus,’ ” said Abdullahi, 21, a senior majoring in neurobiology.
Several other protesters also heard the slurs, Abdullahi and others said Wednesday, but the march continued to Gerberding Hall, where protesters delivered demands to the UW president’s office.
The incident occurred when the march — which numbered hundreds of students and briefly shut down traffic in the University District — had dwindled to about 100. SAE was the only fraternity that marchers walked past.
Members of the Black Student Union said they planned to meet with UW interim President Ana Marie Cauce on Thursday about the allegations. The group also intends to pursue potential sanctions against SAE from the UW Interfraternity Council, the governing body of the university’s off-campus fraternities and sororities.
It’s unclear what kind of sanctions, if any, the university could impose on a fraternity if it were proven to have insulted students because of their race or political beliefs.
Abdullahi said the young men’s shouts appeared to be part of an organized counterprotest against marchers.
Shortly after the protest march, Abdullahi said, he recounted the incident to march organizers and fellow Black Student Union members. More witnesses raised allegations later that evening, during a BSU meeting to discuss the march.
BSU President Maggie Negussie said Wednesday the fraternity also sent a representative to the meeting, which upset BSU members.
“They sent one of their only black male fraternity members,” she said. “A lot of people saw that as disrespectful. He’s one of the only black males in their house and he actually didn’t even hold a position (of rank) in the fraternity.”
In the days after the allegations emerged, Negussie said she contacted Hickey and requested the fraternity give a public apology by March 5.
Negussie said Hickey has offered to meet with the BSU to discuss the matter. But that’s not enough, she said.
“There was no apology,” she said. “In general, we just want them to be held accountable. But as of right now there’s been no owning up to it.”
