No arrests have been made in response to an ugly racist assault that took place outside the Sigma Pi frat house at Cornell early Sunday morning. A spokesperson for Cornell, Claudia Wheatley, tells us Ithaca police and Cornell campus police are still interviewing witnesses and victims. The victims, who are all black, say a group of people on the roof of the frat house threw bottles at them as they walked by, then shouted, "Come up here, Trayvon."
The fraternity has been placed on interim suspension pending the outcome of the investigation. Under this suspension, the fraternity may not engage in any activities other than operation of their residence. Sigma Pi claims the crime was perpetrated by a visiting student, and Sigma Pi president Zach Smith said in a statement, "I want to assure you that the person who committed the acts on Saturday night/Sunday morning was not a brother in our chapter. He is a Sigma Pi visiting from another university."
In a message to the campus community, Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy said, "There is no place for this kind of behavior at Cornell University; we celebrate our diversity and expect all our members to respect one another. Once we have completed a review of the incident, including who was involved, appropriate action will be taken and we will notify the community when that happens."
Tonight there will be "an open community forum" at Cornell to "examine how we, as individuals and groups, may have contributed to a climate that would allow an incident like this to occur."
