Last week, the Kappa Alphas appealed to the Union Board, amongst other student organizations, for monetary support for the KArnival, their annual philanthropic project that benefits the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Despite the obvious beneficence of the project, and the KA's dedication to including the entire campus in the community outreach event, the Union Board confronted an ideological dilemma: supporting the positive actions of a student group whose national organization's ideology and history carries racist and sexist implications, or withholding money from a worthy cause on the basis of this connection.

Because no consensus decision could be reached at that initial meeting, the Union Board decided to invite the KAs to explain their request, but more importantly to explain their position in relation to the national organization's rhetoric and history. Most tangibly, prior to last week, the KA web site displayed a contextually racist quote from a founding father, Samuel Annas Zemmen, that the duty of the Kappa Alpha Order is "the protection of our people" - "our people" implying the white race. While many Davidson KAs pride themselves on their differentiation from the national organization's reputation as a prejudiced fraternity preserving the Southern heritage, this quote on the Davidson KA home page contradicted this claim. James Jenkins, in response to the Union's concerns, removed this quote, as well as other elements that could be construed as offensive. On Monday, April 3, a delegation of KAs presented these changes to the Union Board, who, in recognition of the KA's dedication to the event and their prompt editing of the website, granted the fraternity's request for support.

While the removal of this quote demonstrates responsiveness to the community's concerns on the part of those KAs who participated, it does not alleviate the tension that still remains between the present state of our particular Kappa Alpha house and the history of an Order that originated in and propagated white privilege throughout Reconstruction, Negro Suffrage Movements, and Civil Rights. While they were in no way alone in doing this, their name has become synonymous with it. Although I realize that many of my friends in KA do not ascribe to these beliefs, the name encompasses an entire web of associations outside of the control of this particular chapter. I am a woman who grew up in the South, and I know what KA means. I know that the people who live across the tracks know what KA means. And despite any cosmetic changes to the web page, the KA tradition does not include them, or me.

Other KA chapters still celebrate Old South, a formal function, by donning confederate uniforms and encouraging their dates to wear antebellum dresses. To our KA's credit, a motion to adopt this practice was voted down last year in favor of less historically referential formal wear. While the Davidson chapter does not participate in any overtly racist behavior, the name undeniably links them to their brethren at Ole Miss, who for years hired young African-American children to stand and pretend to pick cotton in front of their house on Old South day. It also links them to brethren at Chapel Hill who annually hold a "Sharecropper's Ball" and to brethren at a small Georgia college who put on a blackface skit last year for the crowd's half-time entertainment. As a historical entity, Kappa Alpha implies good ole boys, rebel flags, and an atmosphere of tacitly, and many times overtly, accepted racism. The Davidson Chapter has been referred to as "the shame of the Order" because of its induction of African-American and Latin-American students. Whereas this proves the uniqueness of the Davidson chapter, it equally demonstrates how Kappa Alpha, as a national institution, neither aims for nor encourages any demographic change in the composites that hang on their chapters' walls. Simply put, membership at most colleges is far from equal opportunity.

In spite of the renovation of the web page, other quotes restate an idea of select superiority in not-so-obvious exclusionary terms. The 'Definition of a Gentleman,' the Kappa Alpha credo appropriated from Robert E. Lee's writings, begins with the statement that "The forbearing use of power does not only form a touchstone, but the manner in which an individual enjoys certain advantages over others is the test of a true gentleman" [sic]. While the statement calls for temperance in the use of one's power, it presupposes that a true gentleman possesses power in the first place. Membership is therefore not available to those whom societal norms, economic conditions, and racial biases render powerless. The definition of a gentleman does not allow for social mobility or call for change, but rather advocates a beneficent, enlightened utilization of one's privileged status, and thus the consolidation of the status quo and the systemic hierarchy of power. Implicit in the statement that "The power which the strong have over the weak, the employer over the employed, the educated over the unlettered, the experienced over the confiding, even the clever over the silly -- the forbearing or inoffensive use of all this power or authority, or a total abstinence from it when the case admits it, will show the gentleman in a plain light" is the idea that Power rests in the hands of the gentleman, and all who stand outside of this definition are at his gentle mercy.

Likewise, the motto "Dieu et les Dames" (God and the Ladies), while faithful to the ideal of a chivalrous knight, paints women as a reason for action, not as actors themselves. Kappa Alpha's forefathers "sought to preserve the masculine virtues of chivalry, respect for others, [and] honor and reverence for God and Women," according to the history presented on the web page. Within this framework, I, as a woman, am honored and revered, not consulted or considered capable of hopping off my pedestal and hijacking the nearest horse to fulfill my own dreams of knighthood.

While one may accuse me of splitting hairs and not letting traditions be simple traditions, I believe that the words we say demand our attentive critique. Likewise, connections with larger institutions demand that we look at exactly what we claim membership of, and the claims that our membership makes about other people. The Gentleman speaks from a position of privilege -- one that judges women as worthy and needful of protection and one that casts al l who do not fit the powerful, employed, educated, and experienced prototype as inferior. A Gentleman uses his power over others gently, yet he uses it all the same.

Do I believe that the Kappa Alphas at Davidson College are power-hungry elitists? No. Do I respect, admire, and think a number of members of KA, including my beloved co-editor, are great guys? Yes. I realize, however, that what one says and what one does cannot continue along divergent paths without eventually tearing a body politic apart. The KAs at Davidson are seemingly headed down a different path than the KA tradition itself. The only question I have left is, "How long will KA pretend that schizophrenia is a viable option?"

Erin Smith