Cornell organizations respond to racist fraternity chant
Cornell University found themselves stuck in the middle of one of the nation’s most hotly-contested political issues after members of the Zeta Psi fraternity chanted inflammatory remarks towards the school’s Latino Living Center. Listen to WICB Correspondent Christopher Morales’s story above, and read the transcript below:
MORALES: Throughout his campaign and his time in office, President Donald Trump has rallied supporters with strong and targeted messages towards different groups, including immigrants—labeling them as criminals, calling for mass deportations and promising to build a wall on the US-Mexico border. This pattern in Trump’s presidency culminated on September 5, when Jeff Sessions announced the end of the DACA program.
MORALES: DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was introduced by President Obama through an executive order that allowed immigrants—often referred to as DREAMers, who were brought as children—to apply for temporary permits to work and study legally in the United States. Congress has six months to settle the fate of these DREAMers—but local Ithaca supporters are calling for action sooner than later to help our DREAMers.
MORALES: Although support can go a long way, so can the opposition. Shortly past midnight on September 6th, a chant was heard from the Zeta Psi Fraternity house. The chant was: “Let’s build a wall around the LLC!”
MORALES: The LLC is the Latino Living Center, and Arky Asmal, co-chair from La Asociacion Latina, or LAL, was one of the first to hear what happened.
ASMAL: And I was there, I was conversing with some other people from the community. And she comes in with this huge concern—and DACA just happened. We thought at least even those that were conservative would have some sensitivity, right? That sort of rhetoric being shed right at that moment—we just immediately laughed it off a little bit thinking it was a joke—but we saw the seriousness in her face that this actually happened.
MORALES: The LAL reached out to Zeta Psi Fraternity, the Interfraternity Council at Cornell and Cornell administrators for answers.
ASMAL: So I emailed, with the help of one of my other community members, Zeta Psi – which is the fraternity that we heard this from – president directly asking him if they did, why they did this, is okay for them to do this.
MORALES: No one was responding. At first, Zeta Psi reported to Interfraternity Council advisors that nothing had happened. But at the same time, a member of Zeta Psi was texting a member of LLC, and said that Zeta Psi confessed to the chant while at an internal brother meeting. Once Zeta Psi heard that the word was out, they admitted to their actions, and said they would release a formal apology.
MORALES: Arky and the LAL waited for an apology, but when nothing came, they knew they had to come out public with this.
ASMAL: They told that there was going to be an apology sent after that meeting within two hours. Now that meeting was held at around maybe five to six, so we were expecting an apology letter by eight. Nine. They were not able to respond to us after a solid 24 hours. The apology never came, and we starting writing the statement at nine.
MORALES: When LAL posted their statement on Facebook, they finally received the apology from Zeta Psi. The fraternity said that only one member was taking responsibility for the chant—and Arky was not pleased.
ASMAL: The apology was very problematic. The apology was trying to justify the fact that he was Hispanic, that apparently he had roots that were Latino, and therefore it was somewhat okay for him to say something like this, and he also reiterated that he didn’t mean it seriously, [that] it was a joke towards Trump himself.
MORALES: This apology was not enough. Members and allies of the Latinx community appeared at a student assembly meeting the next day — September 7th. Cornell student Irving Torres was the first to speak to the student assembly:
TORRES: So S[tudent] A[ssembly], I come to you, as those who are elected to represent the student body, what are you going to do and what are you going to say?
MORALES: Student Assembly Representative Joseph Anderson was most appalled:
ANDERSON: So many people at this school have been angry for so long, and we’ve just ignored it. There is no ignoring it anymore. It’s here – it’s been at our doorstep for a while and we’ve just been putting it off. Now is the time to finally act, and I’m sick of it.
MORALES: After multiple representatives spoke, all voicing concerns and condemning the act, Cornell President Martha Pollack and Vice President for Student & Campus Life Ryan Lombardi arrived to the meeting. I took the mic, and asked President Pollack a question:
MORALES at SA Meeting: And I know that La Asociacion Latina executive board – in their ending of their statement left a specific list of demands, that [Cornell] Black Students United also reinforced…but my direct question to you, President Pollack and to the Cornell administration: have you looked at these demands, will you respond to them, and how soon?
POLLACK: The answer to your question is yes, I received the list. I heard about the episode very late last night. I was at [inaudible] all morning. I was in close contact with Vice President Lombardi as he was crafting his message, and we were texting back and forth. I don’t have a response for you today. I need time. We’re still gathering facts, we’re still gathering information. We will respond, but I am not prepared to respond today.
MORALES: But I wanted a more concrete answer, so I reached out to President Pollack again the following week. According to her media relations office, she declined to comment, and referred back to Vice President Lombardi’s previous statement.
MORALES: His statement was criticized by one student assembly representative, because he defended the chant under the rights of “open expression.” This was similar to what Arky and the LAL board heard behind closed doors, where President Pollack said to them directly that she will not respond to their demands.
ASMAL: She had this meeting with us…[inaudible]…she had already known by then because Lombardi had already released his statement – everybody kind of already knew what happened…spilled over in that meeting for a couple of minutes, and the conclusion was, quote and quote her words, ‘I cannot take action against that rhetoric because it is not classified as hate speech.’ According to U.S. government, hate speech is considered when it’s targeted at an individual. However, hate speech is not when that language is targeted at a group. Regardless of whether that’s hate speech or not, that’s still vulgar and hateful rhetoric, and that should not be allowed because that dehumanizes not only an individual but a community.
MORALES: In the list of demands, LAL also called for Zeta Psi to undergo greater emphasis on diversity training. Zeta Psi members declined to comment for this story.
MORALES: While this may put a sudden rest to this particular incident, the LAL, members and allies of the Latinx community know they will continue to fight these incidents of discrimination, to fight for DREAMers and continue to press the Cornell Administration to take action against these acts, like a racist chant from a fraternity.
FEMALE STUDENT: If I don’t feel safe in this community, I have to spend another four years here. And I don’t feel safe – I chose Cornell for diversity and inclusion. That’s why I’m here because I heard that you guys were diverse and inclusive, and you have not shown me that! Show me you’re diverse and inclusive!
MORALES: For WICB News, I’m Christopher Morales.
