The disbanded Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter at the University of Oklahoma has reportedly been mulling taking legal action against the school and has hired the same lawyer who defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Local TV stations KFOR and KOKH reported Thursday night that the OU fraternity chapter’s board voted to hire attorney Stephen Jones, whose claim to fame was being appointed to head up McVeigh’s defense team at trial.
Jones told KFOR that the fraternity chapter is outraged at being collectively painted as bigots because the behavior of a few members was caught on video.
The two students whom the university identified as leading a now-infamous racist chant have already been expelled. One student, Parker Rice, issued an apology for his involvement in the incident while the parents of a second, Levi Petitt, apologized on their son’s behalf.
Jones told KFOR that those students shouldn’t be painted as racists even though they showed poor judgment.
University President David Boren on Monday severed the school’s ties to its SAE chapter and gave its members until midnight Tuesday to vacate their frat house. Boren gave the two students who were expelled, whom he didn’t identify by name, a deadline of Friday to dispute their expulsions to the university’s equal opportunity officer.
SAE’s national organization also closed down the chapter after video of the racist chant surfaced.
