The national headquarters has been investigating details of racial intolerance with several members of our chapter at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Chapter leadership issued sanctions in response to the discriminatory behavior, which is what we teach as part of our education at events and on campuses throughout the year. Sigma Alpha Epsilon apologizes for the actions of these former members, because they do not represent our mission and values.

When we find that the behavior of any member is inconsistent with our expectations, we work to eradicate that behavior. Since the beginning of the academic term, our field-staff team has completed nearly 600 visits to our groups to provide additional education, awareness and training on many important topics, including diversity and inclusion. In addition, we make sure our members understand bystander behavior and intervention. We teach that if anyone witnesses behavior that deviates from our values, that person has a responsibility to speak up and stop it.

We disagree with the university president’s observation that Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national organization has an inability to address discrimination in our chapters. In fact, the fraternity has enacted a large number of initiatives in the past year to combat intolerance, discrimination or morally unacceptable behavior. We view our relationship with colleges and universities as a partnership.

Last March, Sigma Alpha Epsilon launched a four-pronged initiative to address diversity and inclusion, as well as cultural awareness, in our organization. All of our collegiate members were provided a diversity-and-inclusion training program as part of our comprehensive training modules, and all new members must complete similar training before they can be initiated into the fraternity.

In July, the organization hired our director of diversity and inclusion, Ashlee Canty , who is responsible for overseeing the development, promotion and implementation of strategies that lead to enhanced diversity within our organization. Her position is the first such staff role established by a major North American fraternity or sorority. In her role, Canty meets with chapters to ensure they are implementing initiatives set forth by the fraternity’s leadership and attends leadership conferences to have conversations with undergraduates and alumni about their personal identity. The education we provide focuses on empowering our members to create a culture of acceptance, to ensure their chapter is welcoming and to educate them on bystander behavior in incidents of bias.