*Oklahoma football players announced Thursday they would hold a silent protest on Owen Field instead of practicing to take a stand against racism in the wake of OU’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity’s racist chant caught on video.
Quarterback Trevor Knight, running back Samaje Perine and inside receivers coach Cale Gundy were among several members of the Sooners program who posted the statement on Twitter this morning, reports ESPN.com.
The Sooners football team was scheduled to practice twice this week but postponed those practices and won’t return to the field until after spring break on Monday, March 23. The Sooners players promised to use their media opportunities to “address this issue” and wear black when spring practices resume.
In the statement, the Sooners football team said their goal was to raise awareness of racism and discrimination on college campuses nationwide.
“These type of incidents occur nationwide every single year and our hope is to shed light on this issue and promote meaningful change on a national level,” the statement said. “But before we can change the nation, we make it our mission to change our campus.”
The university also released a statement Thursday saying that Oklahoma president David Boren plans to meet with the football team’s captains and athletic director Joe Castiglione on March 23.
“He has also charged the vice president of student affairs, Clarke Stroud, to investigate each individual officer of the fraternity to determine their level of responsibility and to make recommendations on appropriate disciplinary action,” the statement said.
The players’ statement also called upon the university to continue to investigate the executive board of SAE because “the leadership was responsible for the culture created and, in this case, encouraged” the actions in the video.
After the video leaked online on Sunday, Boren closed the SAE house on the OU campus on Monday and then expelled two students on Tuesday.
Read the football team’s full statement below:
Together we stand #OUnited pic.twitter.com/XuZ1RRZ0CU
— Trevor Knight (@trevor_knight9) March 12, 2015
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