Frat widens probe of racist chant to Texas, La.

John Bacon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Root of racism protested outside SAE brother's home Protesters outside of the Dallas home of an OU student in the now viral, racist video say they want to bring attention to the stem of the problem.

The Sigma Alpha Epsilon national fraternity said Thursday it was investigating claims that chapters in Louisiana and Texas sang the racist chant sung by members of the University of Oklahoma chapter on a now-infamous video.

Also Thursday, University of Oklahoma President David Boren said his school will investigate the SAE chapter officers there to determine "their level of responsibility" and that disciplinary action was possible.

Since the video went viral Sunday, Boren has shut down OU's SAE chapter and expelled two members seen leading the chant.

SAE national spokesman Brandon Weghorst told the Associated Pressthe chapter at the University of Texas at Austin was cooperating with the fraternity's investigation there and that a probe at Louisiana Tech in Ruston was just beginning.

SAE's UT chapter was quick to refute the allegation.

"We do not perform this chant or anything remotely close to it for that matter, nor had I, or any active member in our entire chapter, heard of the chant preceding the release of the video containing racial slurs," chapter president Luke Cone said in a statement.

The dean of students, Sonica Reagins-Lilly, told KVUE-TV in Austin there is no evidence to indicate the chant was ever used at the school.

Louisiana Tech became involved in the controversy after Dylan Merriman, of Shreveport, posted a comment on a friend's Facebook status saying he'd heard a similar, but not identical, chant while at an SAE event before his freshman year in 2010 at Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

Merriman told The Times of Shreveport that he's been attacked on Facebook for calling attention to the issue by people he doesn't know, who accuse him of trying to gain fame.

"It saddens me that instead of taking someone who saw something happen and finally has the courage to say something openly about it — instead of thanking them for being honest — you try to destroy them and make them this evil person," Merriman said. "I just don't get it."

A Louisiana Tech spokesman said the school is not investigating the claim.

"Without having any record or report, there is really not much we can investigate other than stating the fact that we have zero tolerance for that type of behavior," said school spokesman David Guerin.

The chant in the Oklahoma video referenced lynching and indicated that blacks would never be admitted to the fraternity's chapter in Norman. It was posted online by Unheard, an OU advocacy group.

Contributing: Amber Downing, KVUE-TV Austin; Maya Lau, The (Shreveport) Times.