Attorney: Oklahoma fraternity members received death threats

OKLAHOMA CITY — Members of a University of Oklahoma fraternity that was linked to a racist video have received death threats, a lawyer hired by alumni of the group said on Friday.

Lawyer Stephen Jones also told a news conference that he is not seeking a legal solution to punishments that have been laid down by the university against the Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the school.

Alumni told the Daily Oklahoman they believe university President David Boren may have overstepped his bounds by closing the SAE house on campus and expelling two members.

The 10-second video was shot on a bus chartered for a date night by the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and posted online on Sunday. Students are seen and heard chanting in unison, using offensive language referring to black people and vowing never to admit them to the fraternity.

The university is investigating the officers of the fraternity and will create the post of vice president of diversity to help prevent another flare-up of racial tensions, the school said on Thursday.

SAE’s national body said it supported the expulsion and is investigating whether other chapters have used the same song. The University of Texas has been looking into the SAE chapter on its campus. A chapter also is being investigated by the University of Washington, where black students say members hurled slurs at them during a protest, the Seattle Times reported.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon said on Friday that its headquarters and national fraternity did not intend to pursue legal action against the University of Oklahoma, though it was aware of reports of local fraternity alumni hiring a lawyer.

The Dallas Morning News identified the two students as Levi Pettit, 20, and Parker Rice, 19. Pettit’s parents and Rice issued apologies on Tuesday.

In an incident involving another fraternity, a University of Maryland spokesman said officials were investigating a January 2014 email containing racist and sexist language allegedly written by a member of the Kappa Sigma house.

The email was sent to several fraternity members and used “language disparaging the importance of sexual consent,” said spokesman Brian Ullmann.

The national chapter of Kappa Sigma on Friday called the email inexcusable and said the student involved has resigned from the fraternity.

Additional reporting by John Clarke in Washington.