4 students involved in Theta Tau videos join lawsuit against SU
Kai Nguyen | Staff Photographer
Nine students are anonymously suing Syracuse University over its handling of the controversial Theta Tau videos.
UPDATED: July 16, 2018 at 9:37 p.m.
Four students involved in the Theta Tau videos have joined a lawsuit against Syracuse University, according to court documents filed Monday, bringing the total number of students anonymously suing the school to nine.
The students in the suit have all been suspended in connection to the creation of videos Chancellor Kent Syverud has called “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities,” according to court documents. Five students involved in the Theta Tau videos anonymously filed the lawsuit in April, just days after the university permanently expelled the engineering fraternity.
The nine students currently suing SU, referred to by the pseudonym “John Doe,” claim the university rushed to label them as “criminals” in an attempt to “malign (them) personally” to salvage its reputation, per court documents. The students also claim they “have suffered economic damages, past and future mental anguish and distress, irreparable damage to their reputation, and humiliation.”
The students are each seeking $1 million in damages, according to court documents.
Seven of the students in the lawsuit were scheduled to graduate in 2021, according to court documents. One planned to graduate in 2020, and one planned to graduate in 2019, per the documents. At least four students were prospective Theta Tau members, while at least one student was a fraternity brother.
“We expect to be in this for the long haul,” said Kevin Hulslander, one of the Syracuse-based attorneys representing the students connected to the Theta Tau videos, in an email. “We intend to fight for (the student’s) rights against what we consider to be despicable treatment by SU’s administrators.”
An attorney defending SU and a university spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on this story Tuesday afternoon.
SU suspended 15 students connected to the videos for up to two years. Fourteen of those students are appealing their suspensions.
In recordings of two Theta Tau videos, which were obtained and published by The Daily Orange in April, a person forces another person to his knees and asks him to repeat an “oath” that includes racial and ethnic slurs.
“I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart for n*ggers, sp*cs and most importantly the f*ckin’ k*kes,” the person on his knees repeats.
Another video appears to show the mimed sexual assault of a person with disabilities.
The videos, which circulated nationally, sparked campus-wide protests and prompted the university to begin a review of Greek life. The fraternity called the videos a “satirical sketch.”
Attorneys in the suit are currently battling over an SU lawyer’s request that the students involved in the lawsuit be publicly named in court documents.
MORE COVERAGE:
- 4 prospective members, 1 brother of Theta Tau file lawsuit against SU
- SU suspends Theta Tau fraternity after video of ‘extremely racist’ behavior surfaces
Published on July 10, 2018 at 2:39 pm
Contact Jordan: jmulle01@syr.edu | @jordanmuller18
