Georgia Tech Frat Punished After Members Allegedly Used Racial Slurs

ATLANTA, Oct 15 (Reuters) - A fraternity at the Georgia Institute of Technology is being punished after some of its white members were accused of shouting racial slurs at a black female student, the university said, but the fraternity denied the allegation.

Georgia Tech's Phi Delta Theta chapter will be banned from participating in this year's Greek Week and homecoming activities and will not be permitted to host or participate in parties on campus, the school announced on Wednesday.

The sanctions followed a finding by Georgia Tech that the fraternity violated the student conduct code regarding discrimination, the university said in a statement.

The restrictions will be in place until August 2016. In order to have them lifted, chapter members will be required to complete education and training programs, the school said.

In a statement on Thursday, the national Phi Delta Theta organization said its own investigation did not find discriminatory conduct but that it respected the university's administrative process and will honor the sanctions.

The local chapter called the school's disciplinary process flawed.

"We remain convinced that the allegation is false and that no one from our fraternity was involved," said Matt Edwards, alumni association president of the chapter.

"There is compelling video and an abundance of other credible evidence that contradicts the claim, which remains unsupported by any corroborating evidence," he said.

Georgia Tech said it created a task force "on the African-American student experience" after the allegation against the fraternity.

In August, a black student said three Phi Delta Theta members shouted racial slurs at her from the windows of the fraternity house, local media reported. More than 100 students later protested outside the house, with some of the demonstrators covering their mouths with duct tape that had racial slurs printed on them to make their point, according to reports.

The Georgia Tech incident was one of a series of racial controversies this year involving U.S. college fraternities.

In March, the University of Oklahoma closed a fraternity linked to a video of students singing racial epithets. That same month, black students at the University of Washington said fraternitymembers hurled racial slurs at them during a campus protest.

A fraternity at North Carolina State University also was suspended in March after a television news report about what appeared to be a pledge book filled with racially and sexually charged comments. (Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Trott)

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