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UGA President Jere Morehead Releases Statement Condemning Racist Video

University of Georgia President Jere W. Morehead has released an official statement condemning a recent racist video that went viral featuring members of a UGA fraternity.

“The University of Georgia condemns racism in the strongest terms. Racism has no place on our campus. We will continue our efforts to promote a welcoming and supportive learning environment for our students, faculty and staff,” Morehead wrote. “The fraternity has been suspended by its national organization. In addition, the students involved in the incident have been expelled from the fraternity. Whenever we receive complaints of racist or discriminatory conduct, we refer such matters to our Equal Opportunity Office in accordance with applicable laws and policies.”

Morehead also stated in an email that the video does not support the message of unity that the university seeks to have on campus.

The video shows at least five members of the University’s Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity. In the video, one student repeatedly tells another to “pick his cotton” and then uses a racial slur.

The Tau Kappa Epsilon national organization also released a statement following the video’s surfacing.

“Tau Kappa Epsilon is disgusted, appalled, and angered by the remarks shown in the video. TKE does not condone or support any actions by its members that would be defined as racist, discriminatory, and/or offensive,” the group said.