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Sunday, November 30, 1997

University of Texas fraternity accused of racism

AUSTIN (AP) -- A former Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity member has accused his University of Texas chapter of denying a student membership because of his race.

Spencer Prou filed a racial-discrimination complaint with the university this month, claiming his friend, David Moss, was rejected because he is part black. Moss is of Korean and African ancestry.

"From the beginning it was a race issue," Prou told the Austin American-Statesman. "I was even told we should wait until we're a 100-man chapter before we let a black person in."

Prou said he has tapes of some of the fraternity's chapter meetings where Moss' race was discussed.

He claims one fraternity member said, "There are people who don't want him because of his race. The fact is he won't be welcome."

Lee Simpson, the fraternity's former vice president, denies the chapter discriminated against Moss and said the freshman was rejected for other reasons.

"Our constitution forbids and condemns discrimination," Simpson said.

Moss said he isn't so sure.

"At first, I did not want to believe that my race had anything to do with this," he said. "But the more I thought about it, it just made sense. Some brothers just didn't want to talk to me, and they didn't know anything about me, except what I looked like."

Moss said it was the chapter's diversity which first attracted him to the house.

The Lambda Chi house includes students of Mexican-American and Asian-American descent. Five of the chapter's 20 members are minorities. None are black.

Some fear the incident might further tarnish the school's image following an appeals court ruling, which bans affirmative action from admissions decisions throughout the fifth circuit.

Other such as Interfraternity Council president Mike Lavigne fear the incident could reinforce a campus stereotype pegging fraternities as elitist social groups for mostly rich white men, the paper reported.

"We're a far cry from the stereotype," Lavigne said. "Racial tension has not been a problem in the Greek system, and this one incident shouldn't be interpreted as representing all fraternities."

Moss said he doesn't want the issue to hurt minority recruitment.

"But I just can't ignore the fact that there are racial problems, not just here. Society is filled with them," he said. "And they aren't going to go away until we talk about them."

If found guilty of racial discrimination, the fraternity faces punishments ranging from requiring members to take diversity-awareness courses to losing its status as a campus organization.