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Brian Stewart said he dreamed of joining Morgan’s chapter of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and thought members would be impressed by his academic accomplishments.
Stewart said he was a White House intern but was rejected the day after his interview. He believes it is because of his sexual orientation, citing social-media messages using an anti-gay slur that someone sent him and told him were between fraternity members.
“I couldn’t even be angry because I was so hurt,” he said. Members of the fraternity chapter and the national organization did not respond to requests for comment. A Morgan State spokesman, Jarrett Carter Sr., said the university opened an investigation into Stewart’s allegation after he lodged a complaint last week.
“The university doesn’t tolerate or accept any kind of discrimination,” Carter said. “It’s something that the university takes very very seriously.” Carter said that discrimination — in Greek life or elsewhere — is against university policy and that those found in violation can face disciplinary action after a review by a panel of students, faculty and staff.
Stewart, a 20-year-old senior business major, said he wanted to join Kappa Alpha Psi Morgan’s chapter called Alpha Iota because his pastor and mentor from his youth was a member.
He said he grew up poor in Annapolis and that his mentor had a major influence on his life. “What he offered to me, I wanted the ability to offer that to someone else,” Stewart said. Stewart said he is no longer interested in pledging the fraternity but that he filed a complaint because he wanted to raise awareness. “I didn’t know I was going to have no control — that my interview meant nothing, my achievements meant nothing, because they had already made up their minds,” Stewart said.
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