Members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. at the University of Connecticut are outraged over an incident in which members of the historically white fraternity Pi Kappa Alpha received no punishment from the university after calling them “black bitches” and “whores” and other racially and sexually charged names.
The two groups had a confrontation on Sept. 29 over the painting of a spirit rock, according to the university newspaper, the Daily Campus.
“We were called whores, and after establishing that I was a university professional I was verbally accosted, and intimidation tactics were used,” Brittney Yancy, a member of the sorority said at a town hall meeting hosted by the African American Cultural Center and covered in the Daily Campus. “They called me a fat black bitch, not just a fat bitch but a fat black bitch.”
Because of this incident the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was suspended for a month and was not allowed to participate in the rock painting, but the individual members had not been disciplined.
“I have to deal with the fact that the student who has verbally accosted me received no punishment,” Yancy said.
At the town hall meeting, Diondra Brown, president of AKA, said she was told by Vice President of Student Affairs Christine Wilson that a group filing a complaint could not appeal the decision made by Community Standards. At the town hall meeting, Wilson said that she learned the group actually could file an appeal and file complaints against individual members of the fraternity
No members of historically white fraternities attended the town hall meeting, which took place on Monday.
“Why is it that none of the historically white sororities show their support for their fellow sororities?” Sociology Professor Noel Cazenave asked. “Is it because they don’t see them as women because they’re too busy seeing them as black, or is it instead that they align themselves with PIKE [Pi Kappa Alpha] because they see themselves as being white?”
“Had the perpetrators been Black men and the sorority girls been white, wouldn’t the results have been different?”political Science Professor Evelyn Simien asked Police Chief Barbara O’Connor during the town hall meeting.
The police chief had no answer.
Khalifa Miles, who witnessed the incident, was not impressed by the chief’s lack of response.
“As a chief, you have the supreme command in running these police officers that serve this university, so how is it that you don’t have an answer?” he asked. “Do they have free reign to do whatever they want?…There has to be a protocol. There has to be some type of training put in place for these men to adhere to. I think it’s highly disrespectful for you to address these concerns with: I do not have an answer.”
The fraternity members still have yet to receive individual punishment.
