FRAT HOUSE TO COURTHOUSE

Five Theta Tau Brothers Sue Syracuse University Over ‘Racist’ Video

The students claim the university punished them “to salvage [its] reputation.”

Five Theta Tau brothers at Syracuse University have anonymously sued the school for “branding them as racist, anti-sematic [sic], sexist and hostile to people with disabilities” after offensive videos taken at a fraternity event emerged, according to the Syracuse.com. The students, four of them freshman, claim they were pulled from classes and subjected to “ridicule and scorn” in order “to salvage Syracuse University's reputation.” They also allege that the university’s punishment is “threatening their academic success and survival,” as it overlaps with their final examinations. The lawsuit called the ceremony that was filmed a “time-honored Chapter tradition that builds unity by satirically and hyperbolically depicting brothers.” This comes after the university reprimanded 18 students when the March 30th video surfaced of Theta Tau frat members participating in a ceremony that included racial, sexist, and anti-Semitic slurs. The Theta Tau chapter claimed they were making those comments in jest.