CLAYTON — A Washington University fraternity and a sorority have been suspended following an incident last month at a campus dining hall where members are accused of climbing onto tables, throwing raw eggs and using racial slurs.
The university’s Association of Black Students said the workers in the dining hall that night were largely racial minorities. The association is calling for the two organizations, Alpha Phi and Kappa Sigma, to be barred from campus and the students involved to be expelled.
“Myself and other students, we talked to the dining workers,” said association President Taylor Robinson, a junior studying anthropology. “They serve us food, they ask us how we are and we care about what happened to them. We could not believe that it was true.”
The incident happened around 10 p.m. March 21 at the Bear’s Den dining hall in Zetcher House, a dorm between Forsyth and Wydown boulevards on Washington University’s campus.
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The students didn’t aim eggs or racial slurs at dining hall workers, but the staff felt intimidated and uncomfortable, said David Cook, president of the local food workers union, which represents the workers.
Students threw eggs throughout the dining hall and at glass doors, spit at each other, climbed on tables and were loud, he said.
“There need to be repercussions to show that this will not be tolerated,” Cook said.
Neither Alphi Phi nor Kappa Sigma responded to requests for comment.
Washington University’s dean of students, Rob Wild, and campus police Chief Angela Coonce referred questions to Julie Hail Flory, the university’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications.
Flory said the university wouldn’t share information about any specific incident, and that it works directly with students to address issues they bring up.
But Wild told the Washington University newspaper Student Life that the Office of Student Affairs has been in regular contact with Dining Services regarding the incident, and the university has a policy requiring fraternities and sororities to report “new member education plans.”
“The new member process is very traditional for sororities and fraternities,” Wild told Student Life. “Sometimes things happen that are not on the list that’s submitted to us, and if those are violations, we’ll address them with the groups.”
Robinson, the Black student association president, said university officials met with the association last week and were investigating the incident.
“The university needs to take action when things like this occur on campus,” Robinson said. “If they could do it to dining workers, who says they wouldn’t do it to a Black student?”
Washington University contracts with food service company Sodexo, which employs the dining hall workers. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Cook said there could have been anywhere from 10 to 20 workers at the dining hall when the egging broke out.
“These are good quality people,” he said. “These are hard-working people. They care about the students.”
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