Racist video gets 4 students at Ohio's Miami University kicked out of sorority

OXFORD, Ohio — A video showing four sorority members at Ohio's Miami University singing a racist term has led to their expulsion from their organization.

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The video, which a story in The Miami Student describes as showing the four white female students singing a popular rap song and repeatedly using an African-American slur that starts with the letter "N," was posted on social media.

Officials of the Delta Zeta Sorority said the four women were expelled Monday from the Miami chapter of the sorority. 

Miami University spokeswoman Claire Wagner applauded the expulsion action of the sorority, but said there are no provisions under the school's student discipline policies that apply to the incident due to constitutional free speech allowance.

"Bigoted speech is still protected free speech so I don't see this as a case that will go through any (school) disciplinary process," Wagner said.

But she added, "the sorority acted very responsibly because what the students did in this case violated their organization's terms of being inclusive and non-discriminatory."

Officials with the sorority released a statement saying, "We condemn the discriminatory and hateful language used in a video posted by former members of Delta Zeta, as these actions are inconsistent with our founding values that we strive to uphold every day."

"We are a diverse and inclusive organization and are appalled about the actions of these former members, as we deeply respect all members of the Greek and the campus community. We took immediate action upon learning of the situation and these individuals are no longer members of Delta Zeta because we do not tolerate any form of discrimination," officials said.

This is the latest high-profile racial incident involving students at Miami's main Oxford campus.

Last week, members of a Miami student group called Black Action Movement 2.0 (BAM) presented a list of demands to top university officials — saying the actions they advocate will improve what they describe as toxic racial environment at the school.

BAM issued a statement on the Delta Zeta incident on social media, saying its student members "applaud Delta Zeta National's response to this intolerant video."

"They acted quickly to remove the women whose used derogatory language and issued a statement condemning the actions within days of the event occurring. We expect similar responses from other fraternities, sororities, and organizations when these type of incidents occur," BAM officials said.

BAM officials said more meetings with Miami officials and public demonstrations are coming to the Butler County school, which has a black student enrollment of about 4 percent.

On Tuesday, two students at Miami University Hamilton's campus were caught on video vandalizing an anti-abortion display and will face unspecified punishment from the school.

Cox Media Group