It wasn't what they did, but what they said during a fraternity pledging ritual that has the Yale campus up in arms.
"I really wasn't surprised. I had heard them go by a building I was rehearsing in earlier in the night chanting," said Emily Misch, a Yale senior.
However, it was what the Delta Kappa Epsilon pledges said in their later chants that were offensive. The video of the chanting was posted on YouTube by the Yale Daily News. It shows the derogatory language.
"I mean they're just a bunch of guys chanting what people told them to chant. It's unfortunate that that's what they're told to chant. There wasn't any thought put into the fact that it could be offensive," said Misch.
"There's a lot of initiation that go on here, and there's a lot of people who are really opinionated that go here, so I can see that people would take it to heart. I personally didn't," said Jenna Ciotti, a freshman at Yale.
However, some did take it personally, especially women's groups on campus.
"They should not be able to say things like that. That is a little over the top. I didn't know they said that," said Emily Urciulli, a Yale freshman.
The DKE brothers didn't want to comment on the situation, saying it was being handled internally and the fraternity was looking to move forward. However, it did show up to a meeting Friday afternoon with the Women's Center to apologize for the behavior. The Yale Daily News reports DKE's president called the chants "inappropriate, disrespectful and very hurtful to others." However, some wonder if there's a deeper issue. In 2008, Zeta Psi pledges got in trouble for standing outside the center with derogatory signs.
"It's almost like a cycle of every other year. I mean the Zeta thing was two years ago, and there's almost like this cycle of things like this that keep happening, and it is indicative of some deeper problem," said Pat Rutan, a Yale junior.
The Yale community is hoping this incident like many others will help educate the students about right and wrong.
