An engineering fraternity at Syracuse University has been suspended after videos posted to a private Facebook group appeared to show members using racial slurs and mocking certain groups of people.
In a letter to students and faculty on Wednesday, Syracuse Chancellor Kent Syverud said an investigation was being launched to identify the participants and determine any legal and disciplinary actions that could be taken against Theta Tau.
The videos, Syverud said, includes "words and behaviors that are extremely racist, anti-semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities. I am appalled and shaken by this and deeply concerned for all members of our community."
Earlier Wednesday, Syracuse students demonstrated in front of the chancellor's building and the Theta Tau fraternity to demand the release of the videos after they were removed from Facebook. Later, The Daily Orange, an independently run school newspaper, shared a copy of a six-minute video from an initiation ceremony.
It's unclear when the video was taken and has not been verified by NBC News.
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In it, the brothers take part in a performance that includes one person reciting an oath: "I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart," he says, then referring to blacks, Hispanics and Jews in derogatory terms. He then mimics performing oral sex on another person. Participants laugh and cheer throughout.
The school's Theta Tau chapter has removed its website and Facebook page. The Austin-based headquarters for the fraternity did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syverud said in his letter that the footage is "deeply harmful" and the fraternity's immediate suspension "serves as a reminder that violations of codes of honor, behavior and values will be met with swift and appropriate consequences."
The school declined to release videos it received related to the incident because of the ongoing investigation. But students who protested Wednesday told NBC affiliate WSTM that they needed to be made public.
"I think we're allowed to see what they're saying. I don't think it should be withheld to protect the individuals that did it," said Syracuse junior Saumya Melwani.
Theta Tau is the fourth fraternity to be suspended this academic year at Syracuse, with the most recent one occurring this month after an investigation into hazing.