The mission of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is to promote the highest standards of friendship, scholarship, and service for fellow members based upon the ideals set forth by Founders for their creed, "The True Gentleman."
A Sigma Alpha Epsilon brother at Yale turned dark-skinned students away from a party this weekend, telling them, "No, we're only looking for white girls," according to a student who said she was standing next to him on the stairs when he held his hand out to block a group from entering.
Those girls looked startled and walked away, said Sofia Petros-Gouin, a freshman at Columbia who was visiting friends at Yale and described a stairway crowded with people trying to get into the Halloween party, and the brother, who was white, repeatedly saying, "White girls only," and letting blond women go in. "I was shocked," she said. "I was disgusted."
The allegation, which was echoed on social media in several complaints about similar incidents at Yale SAE, was especially charged because Sigma Alpha Epsilon has been repeatedly accused of having racist traditions as part of the fraternity culture. The national chapter announced initiatives in the spring designed to ensure that racist behavior is not tolerated in its chapters.
It opened up a heated conversation at Yale, with some students saying it shows blatant racism on campus, and others questioning whether it could have really happened.
The president of Yale's SAE house, Grant Mueller, denied to the Yale Daily News that brothers racially discriminated against students at the off-campus event.
A brother who was at the party and requested anonymity because chapter rules discourage speaking to the media gave an entirely different account than Petros-Gouin. He said they always ask for Yale IDs and let everyone in before a party gets crowded, and after that a line forms. That night no one with a Yale ID was turned away before 11:15 p.m., he said. Yale and New Haven police had responded to noise complaints at the party, and brothers were told not to let anyone else in at that time to avoid crowding. He said numerous students have said a woman who was denied entrance angrily challenged the brother who stopped her, screaming, "It's because I'm black, isn't it?"
It was incredibly uncomfortable, he said. That brother is African-American, he said, and others working the door at the time are Portuguese and Costa Rican; he described the chapter as racially diverse. Some of those who are black have been called "Uncle Tom" today, he said, by members of Yale's black community, and feel like they are being forced to choose between siding with the fraternity or others of their race. "It has become incredibly hostile," he said. The overtures the fraternity has made to try to ensure that everyone feels welcome there have been met with radio silence, he said.
He and another student who attended the party said the crowd inside was diverse, representative of the student body at Yale.
Brandon Weghorst, a spokesman for SAE's national office, said in an emailed statement:
"The Sigma Alpha Epsilon headquarters has been investigating the allegation since it was first brought to our attention. Based on preliminary information we have received, law-enforcement officers received a noise complaint and visited the house where members held a social event over the weekend, asking the men to stop admitting guests and to clear the steps and sidewalk. The brothers complied with the direction given to them and halted any additional attendance by guests in order to avoid a citation.
Petros-Gouin said the brother in question is white. She said several of her friends from Columbia were visiting friends at Yale this weekend, and about 10:30 or 11 p.m. tried to get into the SAE party, which had several levels of screening. Students without a Halloween costume or a Yale ID were turned away, she said, but her group was told that they could go in if they had a Columbia ID, she said. The next step was a brother asking people if they knew his name; they started to turn away, but another brother who had a mutual acquaintance tapped them on the shoulders and said, "I know these kids." They were almost inside when another brother stopped the two guys in their group, and the women were talking the whole group in by saying those were their boyfriends. It was extremely crowded on the stairway, Petros-Gouin said, and she got pushed away from her group of white friends and pinned behind one of the brothers who was monitoring the entry.
She wasn't surprised that the fraternity would be screening, or that pretty girls might have a better chance of getting in. But she was surprised by this: "A group of girls came up who were predominantly black and Hispanic," she said. "He held his hand up to their faces and said, 'No, we're only looking for white girls.' . . . He pulled a blond girl up from the bottom of the stairs - over some people - pushed her inside and said, 'We are looking for white girls only, white girls only.' No brothers corrected him or said anything."
He repeated it, she said, and a group of women on the stairs raised their hands and kind of jumped up, wanting to get in. "He pulled that group up who volunteered because they were white, and said, 'Yeah, that's what we're looking for,'" she said.
"I'm a woman of color myself," she said, "so at that point I don't want to be here myself." She said he couldn't see her when she was trying to get in earlier, and she was out of his field of vision when he was making the comments. "Our friends were like, 'Bad vibes. Let's go.'
"It just seemed really awful."
On Saturday night, a Yale student, Neema Githere, posted on Facebook that people had been denied entry to a party the night before because they weren't white. Several other people quickly responded that they had experienced racism at the chapter, as well.
In the spring, a video of SAE brothers at the University of Oklahoma happily chanting about how black people would never be allowed to join the fraternity, including using racial slurs and references to lynching, went viral and surfaced allegations about racist incidents at other campuses. The fraternity's national leaders have apologized and announced a series of initiatives intended to ensure that their chapters are inclusive to all races.
The Yale Daily News reported Monday that the chapter's president denied that brothers had racially discriminated against other students.
"Obviously I was shocked and flabbergasted [at the idea] that anyone in SAE would even have these words come from their mouths," Yale SAE president, Grant Mueller, said, according to the Yale Daily News. "It's just kind of upsetting for me because we try to be so incredibly accepting and take pride in our diversity."
The paper reported that as soon as Mueller heard about the post he reached out to two deans to begin to address the complaints, and that he and other SAE brothers plan to attend a forum at the Afro-American Cultural Center on Monday to talk about what happened as well as about inclusiveness on campus.
People at the Afro-American Cultural Center did not return messages seeking comment Monday.
Githere's post quickly attracted several comments alleging other incidents at SAE.
Ivonne Gonzalez wrote: "Reminds me of the time they asked me and a group of other Latino, predominantly Mexican, friends for our passports when we tried to go to their [expletive] party a little over a year ago. . . So sorry this [expletive] is still happening! Can't stand those rich, spoiled and rude brats."
Another woman wrote about the same Friday night party: "They turned away my group made up of all minorities last night."
Those students did not immediately respond to requests from The Post Monday.
A Yale student sent a screenshot of a post by Gonzalez from the spring of 2014 offering more explanation of the passport incident. She wrote about being surprised that SAE brothers asked for passports: "I mean, they could have asked for IDs. . . . I know they might not have done so with malicious intent, but it just came off as slightly racist. The saddest part is that I don't think they understand why it's insulting to ask a brown person for a passport. So sad . . . needless to say, my night is ruined. . ."
The next day she wrote an update that someone had reached out to explain why they needed extra security that night, although she still thought asking for passports seemed a bit much: ". . .I guess I was right in saying there weren't any bad or racist intentions behind it, but I think it's perfectly reasonable to be offended at this not knowing the context. Either way, people need to understand why it would be taken as an insult. . ."
A spokesman for the university did not have an immediate comment about the allegations Monday.
That SAE chapter was operating under sanctions imposed by Yale, including a ban on on-campus events, after an initiation ceremony in 2014 was determined to have violated the campus sexual misconduct policy. Last winter, the brothers issued a letter to the Yale community apologizing, and explaining the sanctions.
It closed with, "Moving forward, our chapter will strive to promote respect and tolerance on campus. We recognize that we are part of the larger Yale community and we want SAE to be a positive social outlet and a safe place for everyone. For our members, SAE represents community, friendship, and a space for honesty; we hope all our future activities illustrate those values."
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