Duke to hear club case

Former chairman of Duke University’s College Republicans and his supporters will have at least one of their grievances against the club heard.

The university’s student judiciary decided to hear a case against the College Republicans to determine whether or not members were denied membership from the club, said the student government’s Chief Justice Matthew Straus.

Justin Robinette, who was impeached by the organization’s executive board in April, and Cliff Satell, a former member of the organization, said they were blacklisted from the club’s listserv in April and were removed once again on Aug. 31, along with other students.

“It’s really only retaliation,” Robinette said. “Anyone who has protested or signed petitions was removed.”

Straus said the case is complicated because the judiciary has to figure out if removal from the listserv means denying membership.

“There’s no precedent for this sort of thing,” he said.

Robinette has claimed since April that he was impeached by the organization’s executive board for being gay. But College Republicans said he was impeached for poor leadership and fixing elections, among other reasons — all of which Robinette has said can be proved false.

But the club’s chairman Carter Boyle said the new allegations are based on a misunderstanding.

No student was removed from the general listserv, he said. Robinette and Satell were removed from the executive board’s listserv because they are no longer on the board, he said.

“Both Justin and Cliff are on our mailing list. It’s a total mix-up,” Boyle said. “They’re trying to nail us.”

He said he updated the executive board list on the Duke’s student group website because it still listed Robinette as chairman and included some students who had already graduated.

The system notified those that had been removed, saying they are no longer members even though they had only been removed as executives, Boyle said.

Robinette and Satell also met with Duke University President Richard Brodhead on Friday to discuss the anonymous death threats and profane e-mails they allegedly received from the club’s members.

University officials have not played an active role in dealing with the allegations so far, and the meeting with Brodhead was no better, Satell said.

“I was just surprised that as a university president, he wasn’t willing to learn more,” Satell said. “At the end of the day, we left the room no better off, but at least he’s aware.”

An alumnus of the university, who wants to remain anonymous, has donated $1,000 to Satell to use as a reward for any student who gives more information on the person responsible for the death threats and vandalism on Duke’s campus.

At the university’s student government senate meeting on Wednesday, Robinette will also be proposing legislation to stop funding Duke’s chapter of the College Republicans.

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.