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In a Sunday column in which I said forgiveness was due to two former University of Oklahoma students who lead their fraternity brothers in a racist chant, I recalled my own university days decades ago when one fraternity’s members regularly flew their Confederate battle flag and were often accused of overt racial incidents. Today, I need to offer my own apology to the now-much-maligned Sigma Alpha Epsilon and ask for members’ forgiveness, for I relied too much on my memory — which failed me. And while memory is a great attribute for a journalist, it must always be confirmed through written documentation or other corroborating sources. That is something I know, and something I usually do. As I wrote the passage saying SAE displayed the so-called Rebel flag, it occurred to me to check my college yearbook because, as associate editor in charge of the section on organizations (including Greeks), I distinctly remember choosing a photo of fraternity members with the flag at the homecoming football game. I did not consult that yearbook, which, although inconvenient on the highest level of my tall home office bookshelf, was available to me. Then I got what was a terse message with a pointed question from a fellow alumnus of the University of North Texas. Jim Dixon was polite, introducing himself as one who used to listen to my talk radio show, and the founding president of the SAE chapter at UNT. He asked, “When was this display [of the Confederate flag]?” He added, “As I was the chapter’s founding president and its chapter advisor for a number of years, I would like to hear of the time period in which this obviously historical and controversial type of behavior occurred.” Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/bob-ray-sanders/article17048420.html