Leader of racist chant to meet with civic figures

OKLAHOMA CITY - A former University of Oklahoma student who led a racist chant apologized personally to the leader of Oklahoma's Legislative Black Caucus and plans to meet with more civic leaders before speaking publicly about the incident for the first time, a state senator said Wednesday.

Sen. Anastasia Pittman, an Oklahoma City Democrat, said the student, Levi Pettit, called her to apologize after he and another fraternity member were caught on video this month leading a chant that referenced lynching and used a racial slur to say black students would never be admitted to the university's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter.

Stephen Jones, an attorney for the now-disbanded local fraternity, said Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with the university that calls for no members of the fraternity to be expelled. Jones declined to comment further about the details of the agreement, and University of Oklahoma officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the deal.

Pittman said she had arranged for Pettit to meet with black students, elected officials, local pastors, and civil-rights leaders in Oklahoma.

"I wanted him to be educated on some of the struggles they've endured," Pittman said. "I think that will enlighten him and give him a new perspective on a culture that he is completely unaware of."

Among those scheduled to attend the private meeting is Marilyn Luper-Hildreth, the daughter of the late civil-rights leader Clara Luper, an Oklahoma City schoolteacher who led sit-ins at segregated Oklahoma City drugstore counters in the late 1950s.

After the meeting, Pittman said Pettit also will speak at an afternoon news conference at a Baptist church on the city's predominantly black northeast side.