Morgan State University came under fire back this fall when gay student Brian Stewart filed a complaint against the school’s Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity chapter, saying that they rejected him because of his sexuality. Since the news initially broke, things have been relatively quiet about the case but now it’s been revealed that the fraternity chapter has been placed on probation for violating school codes.
The controversy began back in October when Brian Stewart, a 20-year-old senior business major, pledged to become a member of Alpha Kappa Psi, a dream of his ever since he was a kid, so that he could follow in the footsteps of his childhood pastor and mentor.
However, shortly after his interview with the chapter, Stewart was made aware that members of Alpha Iota were opposed to his sexuality and he was given a series of text messages between the members, in which some of them used anti-gay slurs regarding him. One message says in part, “Give him the perception of a fair and equal opportunity.”
Stewart filed a complaint against the chapter and an investigation was started a week later. Now, according to the Washington Blade, the university has decided to put the chapter on probabtion until Fall 2015 for violating university policies on discrimination.
“The Alpha Iota chapter of Kappa Alpha has been determined to have violated certain university regulations, procedures and policies,” read a statement from Morgan State University. “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.
Since Stewart first filed the complaint, the university has held two campus-wide discussions about discrimination against gay people, drawing hundreds of participants.
“It’s very rare to get a complaint like this from students against other students,” Morgan spokesman Jarrett Carter, Sr. told the Baltimore Sun. “It’s not something that the university tolerates or takes lightly.”
“It’s all a part of something we’re going to continue to do just to make clear our expectations about tolerance and respect and support for one another,” Carter said. “Overall, the students have been telling us that this is very surprising and out of the ordinary.”
When it comes to Stewart, he no longer wants to pledge the fraternity but he wanted his complaint to bring awareness to the issues of homophobia and discrimination that clearly plague the campus.
“I didn’t know I wasn’t going to have control — that my interview meant nothing, my achievements meant nothing, because they had already made up their minds,” Stewart said.
We applaud Stewart for standing up for himself and shining a light on the problem of homophobia and discrimination that still runs rampant across so many campuses across the nation, as well as too many other spaces in society. Hopefully, this controversy will spark seriously dialogue and growth at Morgan State University and inspire others not to discriminate over sexuality or any other reason. – nicholas robinson
