You might remember the story we posted yesterday afternoon that involved Tulane’s Kappa Alpha Order brothers and their tradition of building an annual wall around their off-campus fraternity house. If not, we can give you the rundown really quickly.
For multiple years, KA pledges have built a wall around their fraternity house and stood guard over it–protecting the wall from being destroyed by rival fraternities. This year, though, one brother spray painted “Make America Great” and “Trump” on the wall and things got a little dicey. Minority students started posting things on Facebook and even the football team showed up to take the wall down. You can read the full write-up in the link below.
But today, the dudes and dudettes over at TotalFratMove informed us that there’s a surprising update to the story that’s actually great news to read. I don’t want to spoil it for you all since good news in situations like this is so rare, so I’ll just let you read the full statement from Tulane:
Dear Tulane Community,
Many members of the university community have expressed concern over the words “Trump” and “Make America Great Again” that appeared on a wall of sandbags at the off campus chapter of the Tulane Kappa Alpha Order (KA) on Thursday, April 7.
Tulane encourages and supports the free exchange of ideas and opinions including any expression of support for or opposition to political candidates. We also understand that while members of KA said they intended the words as satire, it sparked a visceral reaction in the context of a very heated and divisive political season.
The Division of Student affairs is working with students and community members in a comprehensive approach to addressing these issues. The Office of Fraternity and Sorority programs is working with the KA chapter leadership, members and national headquarters. The Office of Multicultural Affairs is working with various multicultural groups and students who feel impacted by this incident.
Furthermore, the Office of Student conduct is reviewing the various reports submitted through the http://tulane.edu/concerns website and are gathering additional information in order to follow up on these reports.
As an institution of higher education and learning, we are committed to exploring ways to facilitate learning opportunities from the incident. We remain committed to our values of free speech and inclusion in a learning environment that thrives on the expression of multiple perspectives and viewpoints. Simultaneously we remain committed to support all our students in alleviating anything that detracts from the educational environment.
Dr. Dusty Porter
Vice President of Student Affairs
Why is this good news? Because the school is doing what it should do. Educate, not react. The school is protecting their students and their rights to free speech, even when that free speech isn’t appreciated by everyone on campus.
Now yesterday I said that I didn’t think it was a good idea for a fraternity brother to spray paint “Make America Great Again” on a wall in today’s world, and I still stand by that statement. Mostly because of the sh*tshow that an action like that was sure to bring.
But I applaud Tulane for taking the high road here. It’s something that more schools should be doing.
TFM also reports that sources close to the situation have revealed Tulane and the IFC have hired armed security to stand guard outside the Kappa Alpha house for the rest of the week.
