Securing a story’s legal foundation
Jacob Richey guided a student journalist and their primary editors through a monthslong reporting process on an alleged discrimination case from a university Greek Life chapter. Richey acted as the main source of legal guidance for the piece as managing editor of The Maneater student newsroom, identifying and flagging nuanced legal discrepancies and cataloguing all sourcing and evidence the newsroom had for the story to ensure it was legally sound before publication. An unedited draft is not available for this story due to its legal sensitivity. Richey engaged in monthly or biweekly editing and check-in sessions with the reporter and their editors over a period of four months, identifying missing voices in the story, assisting with further sourcing and keeping the story on track for its end-of-spring publication deadline.Edited and published story
Olivia Smith, the first and former vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Alpha Mu chapter of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, alleges there is a culture within the sorority that can be unwelcoming to racial diversity. She brought it to Bill Stackman, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs and Dean of Students, in May 2022, and the Office of Institutional Equity received the report on Sept. 21, 2022.
Smith joined Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Mu as a freshman in 2020 and became the chapter’s first vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in fall 2020. During that period, Smith alleged, she encountered racism and insensitivity to her identity as a biracial Black woman.
Smith joined Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Mu as a freshman in 2020 and became the chapter’s first vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion in fall 2020. During that period, Smith alleged, she encountered racism and insensitivity to her identity as a biracial Black woman.
“I am just a person who’s really passionate about diversity and inclusion … it’s a big part of who I am,” Smith said. “That was something I wanted to bring to the sorority and I thought I could make a big change.”
The national organization of Kappa Alpha Theta, which has its Alpha Mu chapter at MU, began announcing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on its national chapter website in 2020.
The Maneater has repeatedly contacted Alpha Mu and the national Kappa Alpha Theta organization for this story via phone, email and inquiry form beginning in October 2022. Neither level of Kappa Alpha Theta has responded for comment. The Maneater called Alpha Mu’s president and vice president of administration the evening of this article’s publication to offer a last chance for comment. The president declined to comment. The VPA did not respond.
Molly Shumard, former Kappa Alpha Theta VP of Administration (2020) and chapter president (2021) while Smith held the VP of DEI position, shared her opinion regarding Smith’s experience.
The Maneater has repeatedly contacted Alpha Mu and the national Kappa Alpha Theta organization for this story via phone, email and inquiry form beginning in October 2022. Neither level of Kappa Alpha Theta has responded for comment. The Maneater called Alpha Mu’s president and vice president of administration the evening of this article’s publication to offer a last chance for comment. The president declined to comment. The VPA did not respond.
Molly Shumard, former Kappa Alpha Theta VP of Administration (2020) and chapter president (2021) while Smith held the VP of DEI position, shared her opinion regarding Smith’s experience.
“I know that Olivia encountered discrimination throughout her entire term as an officer,” Shumard wrote in an email to The Maneater.
“Unfortunately, due to my privileges and biases, I was not able to recognize this until the fall 2021 semester during work week and recruitment when Olivia was put in multiple unfair and harmful situations … The racism and manipulation Olivia experienced was absolutely appalling.”
Smith’s sorority sister, current senior Abby Still, said she resigned her position at Kappa Alpha Theta two weeks before Smith did, citing similar concerns as Smith as her reasons for resigning.
Still said she was concerned with the responses of the alumni advisers and administrators involved in Kappa Alpha Theta.
All of Kappa Alpha Theta’s chapters, including Alpha Mu, include an advisory board made up of alumni volunteers. According to the organization’s website, alumni board members are volunteers and are only required to have been Kappa Alpha Theta members at any time to be considered. Current alumni advisers are not publicly listed on the Alpha Mu chapter or national Kappa Alpha Theta websites.
“They were not supportive in things that we were trying to implement, specifically in terms of DEI,” Still said.
Smith said some Alpha Mu members’ indirect comments made her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, and some advisers dismissed some of her DEI initiatives.
Both Smith and Shumard alleged that many of the instances that made them feel uncomfortable occurred in one-on-one interactions between them and leadership. The Kappa Alpha Theta Constitution states, “business of a personal or private nature transacted at conventions or in chapter meetings shall be secret to members of the Fraternity.”
“These meetings were ‘confidential meetings’ as outlined by the Kappa Alpha Theta [Constitution], and speaking of the happenings of these meetings could result in consequences,” Shumard said. “This led to a lot of feelings of helplessness and fear of retaliation if I were to speak to others about the discrimination that I was witnessing.”
Shumard emailed an alumni adviser in October 2021 saying she would prefer to have executive meetings without alumni advisers, stating, “there are times that we feel like we (the Alpha Mu executive board) are not being heard in our meetings.”
According to Smith, chapter meetings were subsequently altered so that the executive board met without the alumni advisers for half of each meeting.
Smith said she became overwhelmed by her responsibilities and discouraged in her role as VP of DEI. In November 2021, Smith asked to take a leave of absence instead of resigning, because her term was scheduled to finish five weeks later.
Smith’s sorority sister, current senior Abby Still, said she resigned her position at Kappa Alpha Theta two weeks before Smith did, citing similar concerns as Smith as her reasons for resigning.
Still said she was concerned with the responses of the alumni advisers and administrators involved in Kappa Alpha Theta.
All of Kappa Alpha Theta’s chapters, including Alpha Mu, include an advisory board made up of alumni volunteers. According to the organization’s website, alumni board members are volunteers and are only required to have been Kappa Alpha Theta members at any time to be considered. Current alumni advisers are not publicly listed on the Alpha Mu chapter or national Kappa Alpha Theta websites.
“They were not supportive in things that we were trying to implement, specifically in terms of DEI,” Still said.
Smith said some Alpha Mu members’ indirect comments made her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, and some advisers dismissed some of her DEI initiatives.
Both Smith and Shumard alleged that many of the instances that made them feel uncomfortable occurred in one-on-one interactions between them and leadership. The Kappa Alpha Theta Constitution states, “business of a personal or private nature transacted at conventions or in chapter meetings shall be secret to members of the Fraternity.”
“These meetings were ‘confidential meetings’ as outlined by the Kappa Alpha Theta [Constitution], and speaking of the happenings of these meetings could result in consequences,” Shumard said. “This led to a lot of feelings of helplessness and fear of retaliation if I were to speak to others about the discrimination that I was witnessing.”
Shumard emailed an alumni adviser in October 2021 saying she would prefer to have executive meetings without alumni advisers, stating, “there are times that we feel like we (the Alpha Mu executive board) are not being heard in our meetings.”
According to Smith, chapter meetings were subsequently altered so that the executive board met without the alumni advisers for half of each meeting.
Smith said she became overwhelmed by her responsibilities and discouraged in her role as VP of DEI. In November 2021, Smith asked to take a leave of absence instead of resigning, because her term was scheduled to finish five weeks later.
“I was just in survival mode,” Smith said. “Now that I’m out of that situation, I realize that that was very damaging to my mental health and my self-esteem and my perception of myself. I had tangible proof it was really bad,” Smith said.
“I lost 18 pounds in four months without trying. My hair was falling out. I had to do an emergency doctor’s appointment over the phone to get prescribed anti-anxiety medicine. And I had to start therapy.”
Sorority administration told Smith that a leave of absence was not an option, for Smith or for any sorority officers.
“You may choose to fulfill your role in full by participating in all required committees, meetings, events and transitions for the remaining five weeks. Or you can resign from all responsibilities and titles,” Sophie Chambers, an Alpha Mu volunteer alumni adviser, said in an email to Smith. “We want you to do whatever is in your best interest, and we will support you through either choice.”
Smith said she felt she could no longer hold her position and chose to resign.
“I really, really tried to show that this is really bad, and nobody really has seemed to care,” Smith said. “I feel like I was bullied out of my position by adult women for the sake of following the norm.”
After Smith’s resignation, Alpha Mu held a DEI event with a guest speaker that some members found damaging. During this event, which occurred in the spring semester of 2022, Smith alleged that members were asked to identify and correct misconceptions about their racial, ethnic or gender identity. The Kappa Alpha Theta executive board addressed the responses to this event during a chapter meeting on May 2, 2022.
“The presentation from the last chapter … did not align with Theta’s goal,” the meeting minutes document states. “Jada [Coulombe, 2022 Alpha Mu President] acknowledges that our trust in theta exec has been damaged because it wasn’t screened well and she apologized for her role in not stopping it.”
“We had to stand up in front of (250 people) and explain why our identity matters,” Smith said. “And what we wish people wouldn’t say about us and explain ourselves to a group of majority white women. So that was a very degrading and dehumanizing experience.”
After her resignation and the DEI event, Smith brought her concern to Stackman via email in May 2022. She also shared her letter of resignation with Stackman. Smith and Stackman met to discuss Smith’s concerns in early June 2022.
Stackman is a mandated reporter, which requires all MU employees to report instances of discrimination or harassment.
According to the university’s mandated reporter policy, “MU employees are Mandated Reporters, required to promptly report the information to the Office of Institutional Equity. The Mandated Report must be made regardless of whether the person reporting the information to the Mandated Reporter requests confidentiality and regardless of how the Mandated Reporter becomes aware of the offensive behavior.”
The Maneater contacted Stackman for comment on Sept. 20, 2022. Kelsey Forqueran, an investigator and the outreach coordinator of the Office of Institutional Equity, told Smith that the OIE received the report on Sept. 21, 2022.
Smith expressed her disappointment in Kappa Alpha Theta’s DEI efforts via a letter she sent to to Kappa Alpha Theta leadership, whom she said she had been in contact with throughout her time in the sorority: Katharine Murphy, Director of Collegiate Services, and Tamika Franklin, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.
“You may choose to fulfill your role in full by participating in all required committees, meetings, events and transitions for the remaining five weeks. Or you can resign from all responsibilities and titles,” Sophie Chambers, an Alpha Mu volunteer alumni adviser, said in an email to Smith. “We want you to do whatever is in your best interest, and we will support you through either choice.”
Smith said she felt she could no longer hold her position and chose to resign.
“I really, really tried to show that this is really bad, and nobody really has seemed to care,” Smith said. “I feel like I was bullied out of my position by adult women for the sake of following the norm.”
After Smith’s resignation, Alpha Mu held a DEI event with a guest speaker that some members found damaging. During this event, which occurred in the spring semester of 2022, Smith alleged that members were asked to identify and correct misconceptions about their racial, ethnic or gender identity. The Kappa Alpha Theta executive board addressed the responses to this event during a chapter meeting on May 2, 2022.
“The presentation from the last chapter … did not align with Theta’s goal,” the meeting minutes document states. “Jada [Coulombe, 2022 Alpha Mu President] acknowledges that our trust in theta exec has been damaged because it wasn’t screened well and she apologized for her role in not stopping it.”
“We had to stand up in front of (250 people) and explain why our identity matters,” Smith said. “And what we wish people wouldn’t say about us and explain ourselves to a group of majority white women. So that was a very degrading and dehumanizing experience.”
After her resignation and the DEI event, Smith brought her concern to Stackman via email in May 2022. She also shared her letter of resignation with Stackman. Smith and Stackman met to discuss Smith’s concerns in early June 2022.
Stackman is a mandated reporter, which requires all MU employees to report instances of discrimination or harassment.
According to the university’s mandated reporter policy, “MU employees are Mandated Reporters, required to promptly report the information to the Office of Institutional Equity. The Mandated Report must be made regardless of whether the person reporting the information to the Mandated Reporter requests confidentiality and regardless of how the Mandated Reporter becomes aware of the offensive behavior.”
The Maneater contacted Stackman for comment on Sept. 20, 2022. Kelsey Forqueran, an investigator and the outreach coordinator of the Office of Institutional Equity, told Smith that the OIE received the report on Sept. 21, 2022.
Smith expressed her disappointment in Kappa Alpha Theta’s DEI efforts via a letter she sent to to Kappa Alpha Theta leadership, whom she said she had been in contact with throughout her time in the sorority: Katharine Murphy, Director of Collegiate Services, and Tamika Franklin, a member of Kappa Alpha Theta’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.