Syracuse students suspended for hate skits

FIFTEEN SYRACUSE University students have been suspended for at least a year after racist videos and homophobic skits at their frat house emerged, their lawyers said.

The students were part of the Syracuse chapter of Theta Tau, which has already been banned from the central New York school. The chapter initially tried to play off the offensive acts as “satire” meant to roast a conservative member of the fraternity.

More than a dozen students were pulled from class after the school’s newspaper obtained videos of students making fun of minority, disabled and LGBT communities.

The 15 students discovered last week they would be suspended after a Syracuse judicial inquiry found them guilty of harassment, said Gregory Germain, a law professor at the school who advised them, according to Syracuse.com.

Officials acquitted them, however, of threatening violence, possession of alcohol and causing physical harm, Germain added.

Karen Felter, another lawyer for the students, said they plan to appeal their suspensions, which range from one to two years.

“This means the university does not have any obligation to readmit them once the suspension is over,” she told CNN.

Syracuse officials said they hope the outcome will end the messy chapter.

The videos, taken at a private event and posted to a closed Facebook group, enraged the campus community and people nationwide.