Syracuse U. Frat Suspended for Racist, Homophobic, Anti-Semitic Videos

Syracuse University has taken action against its chapter of the professional engineering fraternity Theta Tau after videos of frat members engaging in vile racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, and homophobic behavior were uploaded to a secret Facebook group called "Tau of Theta Tau" by frat member David Yankowy III. The university's chancellor, Kent Syverud, confirmed in an all-campus email that the frat was suspended Wednesday, according to campus paper The Daily Orange.

"I am appalled and shaken by this and deeply concerned for all members of our community," Syverud wrote in the email.

"I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n-----rs, sp-cs, and most importantly, the fucking k-kes," a kneeling man says in the video between simulating fellatio on another frat member who holds a beer can to his crotch.

Prior to beginning the "oath," the same member on his knees says, "Fuck black people, and fuck sp-cs. Amen."

Later in the video, one of the frat brothers prods others out of the room with the deeply anti-Semitic taunt "You fuckin' k-kes, get in the fuckin' showers."

Yankowy, an engineering student who uploaded several videos to the secret page before administrators were made aware of the existence of the hateful material, was listed as a member of Syracuse's chapter of Theta Tau before the website went offline Wednesday, the Orange reports.

The video that surfaced, in which frat members act like dogs, and hump each other and a wall while making disgusting comments about sex between men, is one of several posted to the secret group, although it is the only one currently available.

In another video, the men are seen demeaning disabled people as one of the members sits in a rolling office chair. "He's drooling out of his mouth because he's retarded in a wheelchair," one of them says, according tothe Orange.

Beyond suspending the fraternity, the upstate New York university has launched an investigation, and the school's Department of Public Safety is working on identifying participants in the video, Syverud said.