Earlier this school year, a Christian a capella group at UNC-Chapel Hill , Psalm 100, faced a legal problem when they expelled a member from their group due to his identification as a homosexual.
While Chapel Hill ultimately determined the group’s reasoning for their actions was justified, the issue brings to light certain practices at N.C . State among selective campus groups based on religion or ethnicity.
Joanne Woodard, vice provost for institutional equity & diversity, said she’s not concerned with a similar issue occurring at State.
“Groups at State focused around religion do not have bars to those who do not share their religion,” Woodard said. “Also, take our Women’s Center, they would not bar males from participation in events unless there was a gender specific activity.”
With these policies in mind, religious and ethnic campus groups that select their members walk on a thin line between valid entry requirements and discrimination.
John Jones, former member of Chi Alpha Omega, a Christian fraternity whose chapter recently became inactive due to loss of membership, said the shared faith groups are not meant to be discriminatory.
“The purpose of the fraternity is to build up fellow believers in our faith, so someone who does not share our beliefs would not be able to receive or give those intangible benefits that come from our faith, because they do not believe the same fundamentals that we do,” Jones said.
When asked how this practice of selection by faith escapes State’s discrimination policy, Jones replied with the following:
“We have never, and I pray we never will, discriminated against anyone who wants to attend open events. Nearly everything we did, from Bible studies to root beer keg parties, were open,” Jones said.
While Chi Alpha Omega did not choose to discriminate against non-members because of their faith, other issues could arise regarding one’s way of upholding that faith. Jones said all sins are equal in the eyes of his faith, as represented by the brothers of his fraternity.
“All men are sinners, and to reject one because of a particular sin would be against our faith. We would not accept a man who thought homosexual actions were not a sin, just like we would not accept a man who thought drinking too much alcohol was not a sin,” Jones said.
Rachel Yon, a senior in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, offered her opinion on the balance between entry requirements and discrimination as a member of Zeta Phi Beta, an international, historically black sorority.
“As of now, I would say that my sorority’s lack of cultural diversity is really just a result of our shared values. We haven’t sought to include or disclude others based on ethnicity or culture,” Yon said.
She added that her sorority selects its members by looking at GPA and campus involvement, not gender, sexuality or religion.
According to Woodard, these selection practices are acceptable under State’s discrimination policy because it does not differentiate between specific actions.
“At N.C . State, we do have campus regulations that deal with non-discrimination based on sexual identity. If someone said they felt discriminated against because of their sexual or gender identification, our office might look into that to see if that was actually the basis of the discrimination,” Woodard said.
Woodard added that in her tenure at State, she has not encountered an issue of discrimination involving campus groups.
