Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse University chapter of Theta Tau was suspended Wednesday morning after the university confirmed it was involved in the creation of online videos showing fraternity members engaging in behaviors that were “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities,” Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a campus-wide email.
In recordings obtained by The Daily Orange showing the videos, which were filmed in Theta Tau’s house, a person forces another person to his knees and asks him to repeat an “oath” including racial slurs.
“I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*ggers, sp*cs and most importantly the f*ckin’ k*kes,” the person on his knees repeats.
The videos were posted in a secret Facebook group called “Tau of Theta Tau” by a user named David Yankowy III, the recordings show. Yankowy was listed as a member of Theta Tau on the SU fraternity chapter’s website before the site was made inaccessible Wednesday afternoon. Yankowy, who is listed in SU’s directory as a senior in the College of Engineering and Computer Science, did not respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.
Several videos filmed in the house were uploaded in the secret Facebook group. In one recording, a person, using antisemitic language, yells at two other people.
“You f*ckin’ k*kes, get in the f*ckin’ showers,” he says, and the two people run out of the room as others laugh.
In another recording, a person sits down in a rolling chair and a different person yells, “He’s drooling out of his mouth because he’s retarded in a wheelchair.”
At one point, one person tells others to “… Get together and (talk) about their significant others while drinking different wines and talking in gay girly accents.”
The following recording is one of several obtained by The Daily Orange. The D.O. could not publish every video as it could not confirm that each video was posted on the “Tau of Theta Tau” page.
