Mar 12, 2015 2 min read

Sigma Alpha Epsilon at the University of Oklahoma is gone, its fraternity house emptied and shuttered, two of its members expelled and its charter revoked by the national organization. Its end came suddenly, days after an Internet video showed members participating in a chant containing racial slurs, lynching references and a vow black students would never be admitted to the OU chapter.

National leaders of Sigma Alpha Epsilon said they were “embarrassed” by the “unacceptable and racist” behavior and said the chant was not part of fraternity tradition.

The chant may not have been used by all chapters of the fraternity, but it apparently was a local tradition. We shouldn’t be surprised. Almost all fraternities and sororities do not discriminate – officially – on the basis of race and religion, but many do so in practice.

Fraternities came about in the 19th century as secret societies, often banned by the colleges and universities at which their members studied.

Gradually, the schools began to tolerate these organizations, eventually bringing them onto their campuses and sanctioning their activities.

In doing so, exclusionary cliques, wild parties, binge drinking and other hijinks became an official part of campus life.

What fraternities and sororities do reflects directly on the colleges and universities they populate.

If the OU fraternity has any defenders at all, they might be saying this was a harmless if idiotic incident, the chant being just one of several songs sung by young men having fun under the influence of alcohol.

Please.

Drunkenness is the weakest excuse, but one that cannot be claimed by another fraternity of sorts – the 47 Republican U.S. senators, who, spurred on by a couple of yahoos (and a Netanyahu), attempted to sabotage international negotiations with Iran and embarrass our president.

Some of them may now regret their outrageous behavior, or maybe not.

Some people never grow up.