This week's column
Two new student organizations have arrived on "The Yard."
N.C. A&T's first multi-racial fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, is seeking a charter on the historically black campus, and the school's first support group for gay and lesbian students, PRIDE (People Recognizing Individual Diversity and Equality), held its second meeting last week.
As A&T continues to grow, such news should not be a surprise. And it's a matter of individual choice whether to participate.
But not everyone is comfortable with these developments.
Some students grumble in particular that they don’t like the name of the organization for gay students because it co-opts a familiar rallying cry for A&T students and alumni -- "Aggie Pride!"
Others are not so sure why a fraternity with a non-African American pedigree has a place at A&T.
Lambda Chi Alpha was founded in 1909 at Boston University. Its national membership numbers 300,000 and it has sanctioned 300 chapters throughout the country, including eight on North Carolina campuses.
If the fraternity receives a charter at A&T, it would become the first Lambda Chi Alpha Chapter in the nation at a historically black college.
PRIDE, meanwhile, advertises itself as open to any student who is interested in joining and its initial meeting last fall attracted 45 students. Since then there have been an ice cream social and a second meeting last week that attracted 30 students.
Still, many of the students involved would provide only their first names.
The issue of sexual orientation is particularly sensitive on historically black campuses, which some say are less tolerant on that front than predominantly white campuses.
Instances of hostility toward gay students at all-black and all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta made national headlines two years ago. One student assaulted another with a baseball bat when he suspected the student had been making advances.
A forum at Bennett College on being black and gay attracted a full house that year at Bennett College.
Some students, many of them from A&T, occasionally hooted at the gay members of the panel and fiercely debated a heterosexual minister who defended gay lifestyle as not prohibited by Scripture.
Despite some relatively quiet discontent from a few students, PRIDE's arrival at A&T has been, well, routine.
The chapter was founded by 24-year-old Jasma Johnson, a graduate student from Wilmington. She submitted a constitution and bylaws, paid the $35 filing fee and documented that PRIDE had at least five members.
"I thought it could be a place to belong, to feel comfortable, to be accepted for who you are," Johnson said Friday.
Johnson also said she felt such an organization, which already exists at UNCG, could promote awareness and education.
But doesn't that mean pushing an agenda — trying to get others to change their attitudes about gay people?
Hardly, Johnson insisted. "That's not the purpose of this organization. We're here to promote education and awareness."
Then she added: "An opinion is like a car. Everybody has one."
Lambda Chi Alpha, meanwhile, seems to represent a lot of what many say the doctor has ordered for fraternities and sororities. It does not require pledging and has led the movement to forbid dangerous and demeaning hazing. In a 2003 Forbes magazine rating of "The Best Fraternities for CEOs," Lambda Chi Alpha ranked fourth in the nation with eight members who were chief executives at Forbes 500 companies.
It includes among its most famous members President Harry Truman, department store magnate William Dillard and former Chicago Cubs greats Billy Williams and Ferguson Jenkins, both of whom are black
But the fraternity was not founded by African Americans. And therein lies the rub for some critics who believe black campuses are meant only for black fraternities and sororities.
Fortunately, neither of the new organizations has created much resistance.
PRIDE founder Johnson did note that one male student would not enter the ice cream social because he feared that he would be approached by a gay male.
But that’s been more the exception than the rule.
Aggies are living and letting live. At least for now.
Which seems only fitting on the campus that spawned the Feb. 1, 1960, Woolworth sit-ins.
The road to civil rights runs through A&T. And it ought to be a two-way street.
Contact Editorial Page Editor Allen H. Johnson at ajohnson@news-record.com
Comments (5)
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You used your name on this bit of trash. Are you trying to equate racial bigotry to anti gay positions?
There are hundreds of thousands of us in this country whose only experience with sodomites came at the acts of a sweaty, fat little minister or priest when we were preteens. Not a one of us want to see these deviant scumbags given a position of equality in our society. You do yourself no favors taking the vangard on advancing this kind of nonsense to your fellow black man.
Posted on January 31, 2005 9:43 PM
A7T has long been a bright spot for our fair city. It seems only natural that they would help lead the way in welcoming the gay community.
And for black America to condemn gays is to do to gays what white America once did (and some still do) to blacks. There is nothing to gain from hate.
Posted on January 31, 2005 10:15 PM
There's a saying that goes something like this: "One person's trash is another person's treasure."
Also, I appreciate the comments posted by Billy The Blogging Poet. His posting was poetry itself!
Posted on January 31, 2005 11:04 PM
I hope the Lambda Chi Alpha chapter at NC A & T succeeds. I am a brohter of the chapter at Chapel Hill ( initiated 1958 ). We had hazing back in those days. No water boarding of course but some verbal abuse, mental torture and most of all sleep deprivation. Good fun but that too has passed. Our coat of arms has latin and greek mottoes on it as follows : 1.) Naught Without Labor and 2.) Every Man A Man
Posted on February 1, 2005 12:40 PM
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