Remember the story of 20 year-old openly gay college student Brian Stewart who was denied acceptance into the prestigious fraternity Kappa Alpha Si, for his sexual orientation? Here is the latest on the topic:
Brian Stewart filed a complaint with the school back in October, after they used some colorful slurs to reject his application. The exact nature of the “derogatory social media messages” have not been made public, which is a real shame because we would love to see exactly how vitriolic they are. But that’s really not the point: the point is that the frat acted like a bunch of douches; the victim stood up to them; the school investigated; and now the perpetrators have been held responsible, to some extent.
This took no small amount of courage on Stewart’s part. Standing up publicly to denounce intolerance and discrimination at a powerful institution can’t have been any easy decision, particularly when it was an institution for which he previously had a lot of respect and reverence.
The probation lasts until 2015, and means that the frat won’t be able to participate in official college activities.
More importantly, the college has held two campus-wide meetings about the incident, prompting lots of discussion and dialogue and healing. Overall, that seems like a pretty productive outcome for what was an entirely ugly incident.
So far there’s been no comment from the Alpha Iota chapter, nor from the national Kappa Alpha Psi organization. But what could they say at this point? “Whoops?”
Actually, there is plenty they could say. “We reject all forms of discrimination, etc. etc. etc.,” or “the members responsible for this reprehensible act have been excommunicated,” or “we pledge a year of fundraising and awareness campaigns to make up for the harm for which we must now take full responsibility,” would all be acceptable.Stewart had dreamed of joining Morgan's chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and thought members would be impressed by his academic accomplishments —Stewart said he had wanted to be a member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity for years, following in the footsteps of his pastor.
"[I was] born in the projects of Annapolis, growing up in and out of foster care...and raised by different relatives," Stewart said. Even with experiences such as working with First Lady Michelle Obama and having leadership roles on campus, Stewart said members of the fraternity hinted that because of his sexual orientation, his membership was highly unlikely.
Stewart was rejected the day after his interview.
He believed it was because of his sexual orientation, citing social-media messages using an anti-gay slur that someone sent him and told him were between fraternity members.
"I couldn't even be angry because I was so hurt," he said.
Stewart further delved into his feelings regarding the issue with Fox News, "I feel hurt. Hurt in the sense that I’m still not good enough. If you don’t agree with how I life my life…that does not give you the right to cast negativity or derogatory slurs on what I do."
He let it be known that he was no longer interested in joining the fraternity, and that he filed a complaint because he wanted to raise awareness.
"I didn't know I was going to have no control — that my interview meant nothing, my achievements meant nothing, because they had already made up their minds."
[QUEERTY]