at the university of mississippi was shut down after three members tied a noose around the statue of the school s first black student. it takes a moment where things come to a head for us to say something s going on. reporter: nyu professor and university of oklahoma alum charlton mcelwain says racial tensions on college camp yous aren t new and often don t get the attention they deserve. i really think that the problem is always there, and i think that part of the problem that folks on college campuses make administrators presidents and otherwise is to think that there s nothing going on and that these things kind of suddenly come out of the blue when in actuality they re there and folks are listening. and now people are watching across the country. what are the demands at university of missouri? several, abimmediate meeting with missouri governor jay nixon. they also want more access and influence into the election of the next university president.
ferguson, missouri might be the best known case. but it s all across our country. every day, every week there seems to be another one. and i ve asked myself why. why is this happening? i don t know why it s happening. but i know what we can do in this country of ours. every single one of us here and every single one seeing or hearing my voice we can stop it. we can stop it. we have to stop it. this is a national issue. late today we learned that a student at ole miss had been indicted on several rights charges for hanging a noose around a statue honoring the school s first black student. that noose was found in 2014. more than 50 years after james meredith integrated that university.
and appalling, offensive and inconsistent with the university community s values and expectations. it s just the latest example of a fraternity exposed for bad behavior. this week the university of houston suspended five members of epsilon fraternity after a hazing incident surfaced. another fraternity shut its doors last year at the university of mississippi after three members draped a confederate banner and placed a noose around the statue of the school s first black student. and this horrifying video of members singing a racist chant led to the shutdown of the sae chapter at the university of oklahoma. today, the national sae organization announced an initiative to combat racial discrimination and insensitivity among its members. we started a comprehensive investigation of all of our chapters to determine if any
epsilon for being offensive after a martin luther king parade had people holding watermelon cups. last year there was a shutdown of a fraternity in mistsissippi after some draped a confederate banner and placed a noose around the statue of the school s first black student. and now, of course the infamous sae chapter of oklahoma university showing this shocking video of a fraternity sing inging a racist song. shocking and offensive but not necessarily criminal. what is clear is that most of the fraternities are more about bull bullying instead of wrote therhood. sara ganim. and what is clear is that there is a be big problem. and joining us is the editor for the metro collegiate at penn state. thank you for joining us here at cnn. thank you for having us. and kappa delta rho has