The Yale chapter of the SAE fraternity has been getting fever from social media after black and hispanic students were turned away from a Halloween party. Colombia freshman, Sophia Petro-Gouin, says that what she saw that night left her “disgusted”.
She alleges that the SAE frat boys turned away people of color the entire night while “a group of exclusively white girls from the bottom of the stairs were brought in, [with] the brother saying ‘yes, this is what we’re looking for.'” The brother kept charging “white girls only” as if that was his reason for not permitting the girls entry.
In an effort to bring awareness to the incident, the Colombia student took to social media in order to vet her frustration with the racism running rampant on Yale’s campus.
“This weekend I was privy to both explicitly racist and absolutely abhorrent behavior at Yale’s chapter of the SAE fraternity. It’s about time we take a seriously critical look at Greek life in this country in general and the way girls of color are treated at elite universities. As a girl of color myself it’s an absolute shame that I and other girls consistently find ourselves at the margins, discriminated against (both explicitly and implicitly) and without a sense of belonging from the larger community.
Hopefully this marks the dissolution of the wildly discriminatory, racist and sexist institution that is the national SAE fraternity.”
What Sophia may not have known was that this was certainly not the first time this fraternity had been accused of such racist behavior. Neema Githere came forward about her experience being met with racism while trying to get into an SAE party last year. She told The Huffington Post that she felt “demeaned and worthless… after hearing a brother mention race to me and my friends.” Githere penned a shout out to the privileged fraternity on Facebook. She said:
“I’d just like to take a moment to give a shout out to the member of Yale’s SAE chapter who turned away a group of girls from their party last night, explaining that admittance was on a “White Girls Only” basis; and a belated shout out to the SAE member who turned me and my friends away for the same reason last year. God Bless the USA❤️”
Githere then encouraged everyone who came into contact with her post to check out the comment section as they’d find many more people with similar stories. There are accusations of the fraternity turning away gays as well as demanding passports from Latinos.
Of course, SAE members are denying the allegations. A member who wished to remain anonymous told the Huff Post, “We at SAE are a very open fraternity, in that, if we have room, the only thing preventing someone from entering our house is not having a Yale ID.” While that may or may not be true,is it necessary to say “white girls only”? Are there so few people of color at Yale that they felt comfortable enough to assume that they weren’t students?
Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national chapter released a statement:
“Our chapter at Yale University is comprised of a diverse group of students, and similarly, the social event included a diverse number of attendees. However, we will continue to investigate this allegation to determine additional information. Sigma Alpha Epsilon is committed to the safety and well-being of our members and their guests, and our leadership has zero tolerance for any behaviors or actions that deviate from our values, mission and creed.”
SAE says the fraternity brothers will be attending a forum at Yale’s Afro-American Cultural Center as reported by Yale daily news. They will be discussing the events from the party in hopes of bridging the gap between the students.
Roommates, what are your thoughts on this?
TSR Intern: Talia O. @theclosetratchet on Instagram & @tallyohhh on Twitter!
