Morgan State University’s chapter of the historically African-American greek organization Kappa Alpha Psi has been put on probation until 2015 in response to a discrimination complaint filed by 20-year-old college student Brian Stewart.
Stewart wanted to join the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity because his mentor was a brother, but was ultimately denied membership.
Although his rejection letter made no explicit mention of his sexual orientation, Stewart obtained social media messages and email conversations between current members from an unknown source that led him to believe that he was rejected for being gay.
According to Fox Baltimore, the messages contained anti-gay slurs and derogatory language, as well as the plan of fraternity members to “give him the perception of a fair and equal opportunity.”
He filed a complaint with the university last October to bring awareness to the situation and after investigation, the chapter have been put on probation until 2015 and until then the fraternity won’t be able to participate in official college activities.
The college has also held two campus-wide meetings about the incident, prompting lots of discussion and dialogue and healing.
Morgan State University released a statement Tuesday, outlining the terms of the probation.
The Alpha Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha has been determined to have violated certain university regulations, procedures and policies,” the statement reads. “As a result, the chapter has been placed on disciplinary probation until fall 2015. During the probationary period, the chapter cannot register as an official organization or student group with the university. The chapter cannot participate in any university sponsored event or activity, and cannot sponsor or host any event on or off campus.
So far there’s been no comment from the Alpha Iota chapter, nor from the national Kappa Alpha Psi organization.
Kudos to Brian for standing up for himself. We know it probably wasn’t (and still isn’t) easy
