Watch CBS News

Why African American SAE chef saw fraternity as "family"

The former chef for the SAE house at the University of Oklahoma says he believe the act was “stupid and selfish” but that he will miss the organization he considered “family.”
Former OU SAE fraternity house chef speaks out on racist video chant 00:41

An African American chef who worked at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at Oklahoma University, but lost his job after a controversial video surfaced, expressed his frustration about what he saw.

The chef, Howard Dixon, has worked in the fraternity house for the past 15 years, but after a video that showed members singing a song in which they chanted racial slurs, the SAE house was shut down by fraternity officials, costing the chef his job.

"I think that was kind of stupid and selfish for them to do something like that," said Dixon. "And knowing this is an organization, and knowing this is an organization that's supposed to be about brotherhood. That wasn't no brotherhood."

Dixon said he will miss working at the SAE house and that he had considered them "family."

But alumni from the University of Oklahoma's SAE chapter are pitching in to help out the long-serving chef.

An online fund has already raised more than $28,000 for him.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.