Duke University College Republicans Lose Charter and Funding Over Homophobic Harassment of Former Chairman

I've posted a couple times about Justin Robinette, the former Chairman of the College Republicans at Duke University, who was forced out after fellow students found out he was gay, and subsequently subjected to harassment by vandals via anti-gay graffiti and threatening emails from members of the club.

On Wednesday night, the organization lost its funding and charter due to the homophobic harassment, the Daily Tarheel reports:

"The university’s student senate de-charterd the club by a two-thirds vote and de-funded them by a 20-3 vote. If the university’s Student Organizational Finance Committee approves the senate’s decision by a majority vote, the ruling will stand for the next two years. Senators were presented discriminatory e-mails and anonymous threatening messages received by former chairman of the club Justin Robinette and his supporters, who say they were harrassed by the members of the club. The senate’s actions were a big victory for Robinette, who has claimed since April that he was impeached by the organization’s executive board for being gay. Their actions come after Robinette and eight other plaintiffs were denied a hearing against the College Republicans by the student judiciary last month on allegations of harassment and discrimination. The judiciary had ruled that those allegations fell outside of their jurisdiction."

Said Robinette: "It has been such a long journey to get here, but I am glad to feel supported.  The Duke Community has shown in this action that it does not tolerate homophobic conduct."

The blog Duke.Fact.Checker called for the Duke administration, which Robinette has accused of being negligent in its attention to the harassment, to speak out:

"The depth of the bigotry Justin endured, the repetition of it, the slurs, the innuendo, the unwanted sexual e-mails — not to mention anonymous death threats — are not just an issue for students to resolve. But rather, the homophobia — as well as other discrimination by Boyle and his ilk — cry out for a response from our administration as well."