Them's fighting words

We're back to the First Amendment.  This time in Norman, Oklahoma, where the University of Oklahoma is located.  University President David Boren, a former United States Senator and Governor of Oklahoma has ordered the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity shut down.  Its members must move out of their house before Tuesday morning.

The reason for this is well known and I will not give the outrageous video any more play than it has already received.  Suffice it to say that the members of this group (and some women, allegedly from Delta, Delta Delta) were chanting a racial, hate-mongering epithet.

The conservative ideologues in the blogosphere are already decrying Boren's move as a violation of the free speech rights of these students.  Even if that's true (we'll get there in a moment) it is more important to focus on the fact that the national leadership of SAE is shuttering the U of Oklahoma chapter without regard to President Boren's actions.  I think he may have a tougher time expelling those involved, although on a personal level I believe such expulsions aren't just appropriate, but necessary.

Should a young adult's future be clouded, probably ruined, because of silly actions done while in college?  Decades ago, police officers often ignored DUIs and other offenses by frat boys, sorority girls and other students and just drove them home.  With a "don't do it again" chiding, their permanent records weren't indelibly stained.  But we no longer live in those times.  In December of 2011, USA Today published a story that claimed nearly 1 in 3 youths would be arrested by the time they turn 23. 

We cannot outlaw racism.  We cannot outlaw hatred.  Nor will banning such speech accomplish anything of value.  How one thinks is ultimately the sole decision of the thinker.  But we can express our outrage.  Rather than banning such a fraternity, what if those of us who abhor what they are saying were to mount constant non-violent protest, to tell these "men" that they have a lot to learn.  That hatred will no longer be tolerated.

It is critical to remember that the origins of Sigma Alpha Epsilon are in the Deep South.  It is the only social fraternity ever founded in the Antebellum South.  They must memorize their creed "The True Gentleman" as part of their initiation process. 

The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds from good will and an acute sense of propriety, and whose self control is equal to all emergencies; who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty, the obscure man of his obscurity, or any man of his inferiority or deformity; who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another; who does not flatter wealth, cringe before power, or boast of his own possessions or achievements; who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy; whose deed follows his word; who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own; and who appears well in any company, a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.

How in the world is using the N word to denigrate and describe how men of color are simply not going to get into this fraternity NOT making these men conscious of their supposed "inferiority"??

So why might President Boren be able to get away with his actions and not find himself being forced to reverse what he has done in the courts?  The fighting words exception to freedom of speech, which you are free to research on your own. 

I find it frightening that supposedly intelligent people, worthy of a college education in a public university, continue to find racism and hatred so easily acceptable.