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Combating racism and intolerance on the college campus

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The Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at the University of Oklahoma on Monday, March. 9, 2015 in Norman, Oklahoma. The SAE fraternity has been banned from campus after a video surfaced of members shouting and singing racial slurs. President David Boren of the University of Oklahoma severed the school's ties with a national fraternity on Monday and ordered that its on-campus house be shuttered after several members took part in a racist chant caught in an online video.
(AP Photo/Nick Oxford)
Nick Oxford/AP
The Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at the University of Oklahoma on Monday, March. 9, 2015 in Norman, Oklahoma. The SAE fraternity has been banned from campus after a video surfaced of members shouting and singing racial slurs.

How the racially charged video of University of Oklahoma students might affect the conversation about raising awareness on diversity and tolerance.

Investigations continue Wednesday at the University of Oklahoma after a video surfaced of fraternity members singing a racist chant.

Two members of the U of O's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity said to be leading the chant were expelled Tuesday. One of those students has apologized, as did the parents of the other.

The ugly behavior showcased on that brief video has sparked a lot of conversation. While many would like to believe this was an isolated incident, stereotyping and other racist beliefs and behaviors persist across college campuses in this country. 

Belinda Tucker, vice provost of the UCLA Institute of American Cultures, says colleges can try to foster more awareness of cultural diversity by adding it to curriculum. She says UCLA is attempting to add a diversity requirement for undergraduate students in the College of Letters and Science, following the lead of universities around the country and in the UC system. 

Tucker says the effort stems from trying to prevent OU's exact situation from happening elsewhere. 

"Of course, no one can prevent intolerance, but we believe that you can create a climate at a university that is more accepting of difference," she said.

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