Duke College Republicans could still lose charter

The Duke College Republicans’ charter is still in question despite a ruling Tuesday that it did not discriminate against its former chairman.

The school’s Senate will take up the issue tonight and decide whether to suspend the charter because one of the club’s executive board members is unfairly in office because he is a graduate student.

The club has been under scrutiny since former Chairman Justin Robinette claimed that he was impeached because he is gay.

Robinette was impeached Wednesday by the organization’s executive board for what members say was poor leadership, fixing elections and neglecting to coordinate events with UNC’s chapter, among other reasons.

After his impeachment, Robinette filed a suit with the student government’s judiciary, claiming a hostile environment was created and College Republicans impeached him because he is gay.

In a closed trial held Monday evening, justices determined in a 3-1 split opinion that the College Republicans did not discriminate against Robinette.

The ruling saved the College Republicans from losing their charter entirely, but it did not save them from suspension.

During the trial, the judiciary found that the director of the club’s executive board was a graduate student, which is unconstitutional, said Spencer Eldred, the Senate’s vice president for student affairs.

 It is on those grounds that the Senate is considering the club’s suspension — not because of Robinette’s allegations.

If the club is suspended, they will not be allowed to meet until they have to written a new constitution and election procedure.

The trial started at 6.15 p.m. Monday night and ended Tuesday morning after almost 15 hours of testimonies and discussion among the justices.

Chief Justice Matthew Straus, who recused himself from the  trial, said he doesn’t know of any other trial that has lasted as long.

“These four justices were determined to make sure they were going to see every piece of evidence and listen to all of the testimonies,” Straus said. “They wanted to be meticulous.”

Unlike most of their rulings, this decision was split.

“It was a little stressful,” said Rachel Provost, chief of staff for Duke’s College Republicans. “I was surprised it took so long, but I’m definitely happy.”

Associate Justice Carissa Mueller wrote a dissenting opinion, stating that the club members’ actions were offensive to the gay community.

A resolution for condemning hate speech will also be on the Senate’s agenda even though College Republicans maintain that they impeached Robinette for reasons such as his purchase of $207 worth of Vineyard Vines polo shirts using club funds.

Robinette is denying accusations of misusing funds and  said in an interview Tuesday that university officials had conducted an audit Tuesday and found no wrongdoing.

“There were no apparent violations of University financial protocols,” said Chris Roby, director of Duke’s Office of Student Activities and Facilities, in an e-mail.



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