Attorneys for a group of students involved in the Theta Tau videos will meet with Syracuse University counsel on Friday at 2 p.m. for a hearing over a request for an emergency preliminary injunction and a temporary restraining order, court records show.

Oral arguments will be heard before United States Magistrate Judge David Peebles on the 10th floor of the federal building in downtown Syracuse.

Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity, was permanently expelled by the university on Saturday. The fraternity was initially suspended last Wednesday.

Videos obtained and published by The Daily Orange last week show people in Theta Tau’s house using racial slurs, including anti-Semitic language, and miming the sexual assault of a person with disabilities.

Four prospective members and one current brother of Theta Tau are anonymously requesting the injunction in a federal complaint filed on Tuesday. They are only listed in court documents as John Doe 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The students are represented by Syracuse-based law firm Smith, Sovik, Kendrick & Sugnet.

The preliminary injunction is requested so the students, who claim in the lawsuit that they have been placed on a “quasi-suspension” by the university, can finish classes before the spring semester ends.

Chancellor Kent Syverud in a campus-wide email last Wednesday said SU had confirmed that Theta Tau was involved in the circulation of videos showing fraternity members engaging in behaviors that were “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities.”

In one video, a person asks another person on his knees to repeat an “oath” of racial 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.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim that SU has rushed to label them as “criminals” in an attempt to “malign the students personally” to salvage the university’s reputation, court records show. The students also claim that the videos depict a satirical “roast” of current Theta Tau fraternity members. The roast is called a “Pledge Porno,” court records show.

The lawsuit states that there were 16 people in Theta Tau’s new member class this spring. Department of Public Safety Chief Bobby Maldonado, in a campus-wide email on Sunday, said SU removed 18 students from “academic participation” due to the university’s Theta Tau investigation.

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MORE COVERAGE:

• Second Theta Tau video shows mimed sexual assault of person with disabilities
• SU will not publicly release names of students in Theta Tau investigation
• Complaints filed against 18 people present at Theta Tau event
• Multicultural Greek organizations find inspiration for activism in Theta Tau videos

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Published on April 25, 2018 at 6:49 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek