Racist Incidents in Ga. Lead to Sanctions, Unity Jog

Racist Incidents in Ga. Lead to Sanctions, Unity Jog

ATLANTA
Oglethorpe University has handed down sanctions against four fraternities after students participating in a cross-country meet complained of being racially harassed and assaulted. Oglethorpe’s president, Dr. Larry Large, says officials at Clark Atlanta University and Morris Brown College — two predominantly Black colleges who participated in the Sept. 29 meet with other schools — complained that Oglethorpe students in fraternity houses threw bottles at athletes and screamed racial epithets.
Large says a panel reviewed the facts and made a disciplinary recommendation to the administration.
He says Chi Phi, Delta Sigma Phi, Kappa Alpha and Sigma Alpha Epsilon were put on probation  until Dec. 4. In addition Delta Sigma Phi has to write a letter of apology to Morris Brown’s track coach, and Kappa Alpha faces “disciplinary probation” until May 12.
Meanwhile, in Valdosta, Ga., students pledged to work together to ease racial tension at Valdosta State University after three Black students heard a slur yelled at them from a fraternity house.
The students were jogging past Sigma Nu fraternity house last month when they heard the slur. Andy Dow, the fraternity’s president, took responsibility on behalf of Sigma Nu, publishing an apology in the school newspaper.
Students planned a jog across campus to promote racial harmony.
“We are running to let the VSU community know that students of any ethnic background can feel safe on the campus,” says David Klier, a junior sociology major. 

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