UPDATED: 6:22 p.m.

Two leaders of Syracuse University’s Interfraternity Council condemned the actions of fraternity members who yelled a racial epithet at a black woman on Saturday night.

In a video released Sunday night, IFC President Connor Dennewitz, said he will sign an executive order to have the fraternity removed from affiliation and participation within the council. Any fraternity chapter that associates with the fraternity “in any context” will face an indefinite suspension, Dennewitz said.

IFC released an executive order Monday night calling for the immediate “indefinite removal” of Alpha Chi Rho, or Crow, from the council for its involvement with the incident.

“These actions have absolutely no place and no right to exist in our fraternity council or in the Greek community and definitely not in our campus community,” Dennewitz said.

IFC will be in contact with the North American Interfraternity Conference, a national governing body, to create a “large-scale action plan” to reduce bias in the campus community, said IFC Vice President Anthony Licata.

The council has mandated programming for all fraternity chapters through the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Health Promotion, Dennewitz said.

“It is clear that these prior measures on our part must be expanded upon, and so we pledge ourselves to do so,” he said.

Licata asked that students, faculty, staff and the media not mislabel the incident as byproduct of the fraternity community. The incident was an “extremely marginal case,” he said.

The council offers its “sincerest condolences,” Dennewitz said.

“We can’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like to put your shoes on for a day and come face to face with the bitter and unforgiving hostility due to the color of your skin,” he said.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Published on November 18, 2019 at 1:24 am

Contact Natalie: nrrubiol@syr.edu