A video published March 7 shows party-bound members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon from the University of Oklahoma chanting a racial epithet. The video was sent anonymously to the school newspaper and a campus organization, which immediately publicized it. OU President David Boren reacted quickly as well, acting to shut down the fraternity and evict all members living in the SAE residence effective midnight March 11. Two students have already been expelled as a result.

The students who partook in this threatening racial act should certainly face consequences equal to the offense, and people of all ages across the country should learn from it. From local slip-ups to national catastrophes, everything people do can end up being seen all over the world through social media. People should act in a way they would be comfortable with their friends, employers and naïve old grandmothers seeing.

The term “social media” is pretty self-explanatory. People can post pictures, videos and short messages in a place where absolutely anyone can see them. Social media was designed to be used in many ways, but the two most important aspects are marketing and socializing. Businesses and people use social media to advertise products and services and make connections with other businesses and people. Individuals use it to find and keep up with old and current friends and make new ones. Social media was not created as a place to say hurtful, offensive and even threatening things about other people, whether such statements are specific or general.

The general opinion of businesses, institutions and people can be greatly affected both by what they post and the reaction to it. As a result of this escapade with OU, the school may have already lost many interested recruits with both athletic and academic strength. People don’t want to attend a school where they feel threatened or unwelcome. And although Boren has made it clear that the school will not tolerate racism or bigotry, the information is already out that racism is present there. That information is permanently stored in cyberspace and potential students’ brains.

Many political and ethical views and opinions offend people today. No matter who a person is or where they come from, people know that as opposed to 1860 or 1910, it is 2015, and judging people or calling them out by the color of their skin or their gender is wrong. It’s completely unjustifiable. No one, especially not an American college student, can argue they didn’t know what they were saying was wrong. Even if the video had not been publicized or filmed at all, the chant was inappropriate and threatening to an entire race of people. The fact the chant is on social media increases the severity by about seven billion, but that doesn’t mean it was less wrong in the first place.

Very few people are opposed to these students facing consequences, but those who are have argued the cheer was harmless and performed only on a bus full of college students. However, the balanced state of an entire nation changed because of a man and a police officer in Ferguson not too long ago.

Boren responded exactly as he should have and was expected to. The students involved have embarrassed the university and insulted members of an entire race. People across the country should be made aware that racism is intolerable, and social media can just as easily be used as a weapon as the tool it was made to be. Tweeters and Instagrammers should think before they post, and everyone should think before they speak.