Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity suspends University of Georgia chapter after racist video goes viral

Cheryl Gerber/AP Images for Allstate

• A chapter of fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) at the University of Georgia has been suspended after a video showing frat members using racial slurs and whipping each other as a joke went viral.
• The national Tau Kappa Epsilon organization expelled four members involved with the video and issued a statement saying the national body is "disgusted, appalled and angered" by the video.
• The University of Georgia's Student Government Association said it is continuing an investigation into the video, and a statement from the school said, "racism has no place on our campus."

The University of Georgia chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity has been suspended after a video showing members of the UGA TKE chapter using racial slurs went viral on social media.

The video shows one of the frat members hitting another with a belt, while yelling "pick my cotton, b****." The frat member being struck yells out "I'm not black," while a third person off-screen says, "You're not using the right words." Then the one holding the belts starts swinging again and inserts a racial slur.  "Pick my cotton, n*****," he says.

Outraged UGA students began sharing the video on social media on Friday, March 22 and quickly garnered support from the public. The national Tau Kappa Epsilon organization expelled four members and suspended their UGA chapter in response the same day. The fraternity said it was "disgusted, appalled and angered" by the racist remarks 

The University of Georgia has not made it clear if the students in the video will face further consequences. In a memo sent to students, the UGA Student Government Association said that an investigation into the incident is underway. A separate statement posted from UGA's official Twitter account condemned the video as well.

"The University of Georgia condemns racism in the strongest terms," UGA said in response to a student sharing the video on Twitter. "Racism has no place on our campus. We will continue our efforts to promote a welcoming and supportive learning environment for our students, faculty and staff."

The University of Georgia is the latest school to suffer a racist incident involving a fraternity. Last year, New York's Syracuse University permanently suspended fraternity Theta Tau after a video surfaced of members taking a racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, ableist, and sexist oath. In 2015, the University of Oklahoma permanently banned fraternity Sigma Alpha Epsilon after a video showed members singing a song about lynching black people using racial slurs.