Civil Rights Leaders Challenge UCLA Sigma Alpha Epsilon Fraternity President to Publicly Condemn Racist Video

Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson and other civil rights leaders challenged Ty Barbo, President of UCLA's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity to publicly condemn the racist video and practices of the now banned chapter at the University of Oklahoma. The UCLA chapter of Sigma Alpha is one of the largest frat membership chapters on the West Coast and by publicly denouncing the racist actions of its fellow chapter will send a strong message that racism by its fraternity and other national fraternities will not be tolerated. The call to condemn was posted on the chapter's Facebook page.

"The UCLA Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter is one the flagship fraternities at Southern California colleges. Its official silence on the actions of its Oklahoma chapter and its equal silence on pledging itself to an open and diverse membership," says Hutchinson, "further fuels suspicions that fraternities routinely condone racially exclusionary practices. UCLA's Sigma Alpha Epsilon can and must use the despicable action by its disgraced Oklahoma chapter as a learning and teaching moment on the peril of bigotry."