Page 23 - 3-13-15 Friday's Edition

State & National
Frat Fallout Continues On
1,000 Students Demonstrate After Unarmed Wisconsin Teen Fatally Shot By Police Officer
University Of Oklahoma Campus
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA - The University of Okla- homa president has called students who took part in a videotaped racist chant "dis- graceful", as he joined a pre-
dawn campus rally.
"Real Sooners are not big-
ots," said David Boren, re- ferring to the nickname for University of Oklahoma stu- dents.
The video, posted online by a black student group, showed fraternity members making racist chants on a bus.
The university's chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon has since been closed down and its members suspended.
The short clip shows peo- ple sitting on a coach bus chanting how the fraternity would never let in a black per- son, using a racial slur and referencing lynchings.
On Monday, students at- tended a rally against racism and in support of a black stu- dent group, Unheard.
Many placed post-it notes with messages of support on the organization's door.
Mr. Boren, a former gov- ernor of Oklahoma and for- mer US senator, promised an investigation. If OU students are involved, this behaviour will not be tolerated and will be addressed very quickly," he said.
He gave students residing
-
Students wore tape la- beled with the name of the black student group.
in the house until midnight Tuesday (0500 GMT Wednes- day) to remove their belong- ings.
The national fraternity re- leased a statement on Sunday saying it was "embarrassed" by the "unacceptable and racist" behaviour.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon's na- tional headquarters said the Oklahoma chapter had been closed.
The fraternity also criti- cised the bystanders for not intervening.
About 5% of the univer- sity's students are black, and the fraternity system is largely segregated.
Sorority Also Involved
The University of Okla- homa has already severed "all ties and affiliations" between the school and its local Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, the university president said, and is exploring the possibility of
expulsions.
And the national office of
Tri Delta sorority announced that it is also investigating the incident. In the video, Tri Delta members are seen singing with SAE members on the charter bus.
"We are deeply disap- pointed by the conduct of the students involved in the inci- dent at The University of Oklahoma," the national Tri Delta sorority said in a state- ment. "Tri Delta expects its members to uphold the high- est responsibilities of college women.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is one of the largest fraternities in the nation. The chapter members on OU’s campus were filmed moving out of the fraternity house with police escorts.
Members of the Oklahoma Sooners football team partici- pated in the peaceful protest march held on campus.
TONY ROBINSON, JR.
Demonstrators crowd the Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin.
MADISON, WISCONSIN - -- About 1,500 demonstrators have held a protest inside the Wisconsin state capitol build- ing, local media reported.
The protesters, who were mostly high school and college students, vented anger over the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager by a white po- liceman.
Nineteen-year-old Tony Robinson, Jr was shot on Friday evening in an apart- ment. He was unarmed, but police say he attacked the offi- cer who shot him.
A series of police shootings have stoked racial tensions in the US.
Students from all of the
city's high schools walked out of classes to attend the peace- ful rally inside the capitol building's rotunda, the Wis- consin State Journal reported.
Inside the building, they carried a "Black Lives Matter" banner and chanted "Justice for Tony!"
This latest demonstration marks the fourth day of protest since the shooting on Friday evening.
On Sunday, more than 100 people marched to the same building, beating drums and holding placards.
One of the chants that rang out on Sunday in Madison was: "The people united will never be defeated."
Black Chef Will Lose
Gov. Scott Is At It Again: This Time
Job Because OU
It Is About Florida’s Climate
Fraternity House
Change And Global Warming
FSU Files Motion To Dismiss Civil Suit By Jameis Winston’s Accuser
Has Been Shut Down
TALLAHASSEE Eliza- beth Radke graduated from the University of Florida, where she had gotten her PhD in epidemiology. Her dissertation, which looked at how climate change in Florida had affected ciguatera — a commonly reported marine food-borne illness — was nearly finished.
But on Jan. 27, a message popped into her inbox. Sub- ject: “Paper Review.” And Radke was about to get dragged into what has now become a national scandal over an alleged “unwritten policy” among some Florida state environmental offices that forbids the use of terms like “climate change” and “global warming” in official correspondence.
On Sunday, the Florida Center for Investigative Re- porting, which broke the news in a story that quickly rico- cheted across the nation, con- nected the protocol directly to the office of Gov. Rick Scott.
Scott has long voiced sus- picion of man-made climate change despite overwhelming scientific consensus it exists — not to mention indications of rising sea levels in south- eastern Florida. “I’m not a sci- entist” has been Scott’s standard response.“We were told not to use the terms ‘cli-
Trustees of Florida State University filed a motion on Monday calling on the federal court to dismiss the civil suit pressed by a woman who al- leges that star quarterback Jameis Winston raped her in December 2012.
The motion says the law- suit filed in January by Erica Kinsman, who revealed her- self publicly in a new docu- mentary about sexual assault on college campuses, is “re- markable in many ways.”
"Nothing about FSU's handling of this matter was unreasonable - much less clearly unreasonable, which Kinsman must prove to sur- vive this Motion to Dismiss," the motion says, according to the publication.
School officials are taking aim at the argument that they violated the federal gender equity law known as Title IX by behaving with indifference and declining to act on the al- legations.
School officials maintain they provided Kinsman with victim advocate services and didn’t know of her allega- tions until 11 months after the incident in November
ERICA KINSMAN.... is suing FSU after her alleged rape by star QB Jameis Win- ston. Kinsman who went public recently, is a resident of Zephryhills.
2013.
The lawsuit contradicts
those claims, alleging FSU Athletic Department officials knew about the allegations in January 2013.
For his part, Winston is not named in the case. State Attorney Willie Meggs announced the star wouldn’t face sexual assault charges in December 2013, and an inde- pendent investigation com- missioned by the school found that there wasn’t enough evidence to support Kinsman’s allegations.
The civil case, which is scheduled to go to trial in Au- gust 2016.
NORMAN,
OK – The shut-
tering of the
University of Oklahoma's
racial slur-
spewing frat
could ironi- HOWARD cally put a
Black man out of a job — unless crowdfunders come to his aid.
Two crowdfunding pages sprang up Monday for "Howard," the long-serving cook for UO's Sigma Alpha Ep- silon chapter, who is out of work after the frat's racist viral video got the group closed down.
"Those of you who lived in the house, undoubtedly came to love Howard and his infec- tious smile (if not his chili dogs)," says an Indiegogo page from a former SAE member.
"Well, that man is going to walk up to the SAE house to- morrow morning and hear that he no longer has a job. He is going to learn who he has been working for. And through some cruel twist of fate, he has to lose the job that he has held for over a decade. He is going to lose his job because of a bus full of racist kids."
That page asks for $50,000 to help Howard, and has raised more than $33,000 as of early Tuesday morning.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) on March 9, 2015 in Hialeah, Fla.
mate change,’ ‘global warm- ing,’ or ‘sustainability,’” Christopher Byrd, an attor- ney with the state’s Depart- ment of Environmental Protection (DEP) from 2008 until 2013, told the investiga- tive outfit. “That message was communicated to me and my colleagues by our superiors in the Office of General Coun- sel.”
On Monday, Scott and his office pushed back against the report. Scott was pressed hard by reporters. “It’s not true,” Scott said, according to the Miami Herald, declining to get into specifics.
The Washington Post, which reported on the story early Monday morning, was also contacted by a represen- tative of Gov. Scott’s office. John Tupps, spokesman for Scott, said he was unaware of any policy — written or other- wise — that forbids officials with the DEP from using those terms.
FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 11-B