Duke Student Govt Rejects Bias Claim by Ousted College Republican President
April 20, 2010 in Students
The recently-dismissed president of the Duke chapter of the College Republicans made national news yesterday when he claimed that his ouster was the result of fellow Duke Republicans learning that he is gay.
Justin Robinette was impeached last Wednesday, just three weeks after he was re-elected as the group's president, and just days after several members of the group learned of his sexual orientation. He says that members of the group called him "disgusting" and a "faggot," and that their anti-gay bias led to his dismissal.
Last night the Duke student government's judiciary took up the case, and this morning, after a ten-hour meeting in which they heard testimony from nearly two dozen people, they rejected his claims in a three-to-one vote.
In its ruling, the committee's majority found that the College Republicans impeached Robinette because of "dissatisfaction with [his] leadership" of the organization, and that there was "no strong evidence" that that dissatisfaction stemmed from his sexual orientation.
The committee declared that the impeachment process had begun "long before" Robinette's orientation became generally known, and that any discriminatory comments directed at him were made by individuals who were not acting in an organizational capacity at the time.
In dissent, justice Carissa Mueller wrote that Robinette's sexual orientation "played a role" in the impeachment proceedings, both as an impetus for them and in influencing the way in which the impeachment was conducted.
scootles7
Is it odd that he was re-elected despite the impeachment process beginning "long before" his orientation became known (which, according to different accounts is days or months or even years)?
How would he get re-elected if the entire executive board wanted him out? I don't know enough about the story, but that could say a lot one way or the other.
Nikki Shonoiki
I agree, it's obvious that you don't vote someone in just to take them out unless something influenced that decision. The biggest thing that could have influenced them to impeach IS the fact that he's gay. Wow.. if bigotry isn't running rampant in our youth, I don't know why all this crap is happening across the US.
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