The University of Oklahoma can add one more person to its list of shame after the school's Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity was shut down in the wake of a racist chant scandal: its 79-year-old "house mom." The college's student newspaper uncovered a 2013 Vine video Monday night that shows Beauton Gilbow repeating the N-word several times while singing along to a rap song at a fraternity party.
Gilbow, who was known as "Mom B," is a former teacher and the mother of three sons who has lived in a room at the back of the SAE house for 15 years and has served as a sort of guardian to the young men.
Some adult role model. The Vine video shows her rapping along to the song All Gold Everything and clearly saying the N-word a bunch of times. It was viewed more than 200,000 times by Tuesday morning, and was released just one day after the nation viewed an embarrassing video showing SAE members riding on a charter bus and chanting, "There will never be a n***r in SAE. You can hang them from a tree, but they'll never sign with me."
As a result of the video, the fraternity was shut down and its members, including Gilbow, were told to find someplace else to live.
More from The Stir: Oklahoma Fraternity's Racist Chant Is Absolutely Outrageous (VIDEO)
In an interview, Gilbow said she was "shocked" to learn about the video and had never heard the racist song. She called the boys her "family" and said she couldn't imagine waking up and not living in the house with them.
Had her own video not emerged, we might have been able to believe she was just a kind-hearted elderly woman who saw the best in the boys. And I'm sure there are SAE members who didn't participate in the chant and who don't deserve to be punished this way, but when you're a member of an organization, you either stand up and say something if you don't agree with a behavior, or you go down with the ship.
Gilbow should have served as the captain of that ship, but her past actions indicate she may not have been any better than some of the young men on the bus.
The actions of certain SAE members have resulted in consequences outside of the fraternity. A prominent high school football recruit named Jean Delance has de-committed to the University of Oklahoma because he doesn't want to be associated with the school. And hip hop artist Waka Flocka Flame, who was scheduled to perform at the frat house, canceled his performance and made it known on his Instagram page that he was "disgusted and disappointed" at the actions of SAE.
University officials are also investigating whether members of the OU Tri Delta sorority took part in the chant.
Here is the shocking Vine video:
What do you think about this latest discovery?
Image via osborneb/Flickr