CANTON, New York (WWNY) – A St. Lawrence University student who identifies as non-binary is challenging a decision made by a national sorority to kick them out due to their gender assigned at birth.
Fabian Guzman became a member of the Chi Omega sorority at SLU last year, and quickly rose in the ranks becoming the recruitment chairperson.
According to Guzman, issues started after St. Lawrence University’s alumni magazine approached the sorority headquarters to write a story about Guzman’s leadership.
“And then on June 2 of this…year, the Chi Omega’s National CEO sent me an email saying that they were going to void my membership without right to appeal just because of a matter of policy,” said Guzman.
Guzman claims the policy that voided their membership was discriminatory in nature due to it targeting their sex assigned at birth.
“Later on, it came out to be something that was not about gender identity but sex assigned at birth, which is not anywhere stated in the policy that they sent either to the public or to the chapters individually. So this is becoming more of an attack on sex assigned at birth rather than gender identity when these organizations are just supposed to be gender-based,” said Guzman.
Guzman’s sorority sister Kelly Cushman says what’s happening is upsetting not only to local sorority members but other Chi Omega sisters across the country.
“I think it’s a lot of ignorance and stigma that caused nationals to, you know, they were so panicked in their response,” said Cushman.
In a statement, Chi Omega national said:
“In accordance with our governing documents, Chi Omega’s Executive Headquarters recently made the decision to void the membership of an Epsilon Kappa Chapter member at St. Lawrence University. By their own admission, this individual did not meet the criteria for membership at the time of joining. Chi Omega members have the right to propose changes to our governing documents at each Convention, and Epsilon Kappa Chapter has been provided with instructions on how to initiate this process if they so choose. Chi Omega is committed to providing opportunities for friendship, personal growth, and development amongst women from a variety of backgrounds who live and reflect the values of Chi Omega.”
St. Lawrence University issued this statement to 7 News:
“St. Lawrence is exceptionally proud to count Fa among our Laurentian community. As a first-generation honors student and United World College Scholar, Fa has excelled as a leader both in and outside the classroom, serving as vice president and now president-elect of the Omicron Delta Kappa leadership honor society, as a community assistant in our residence halls, and as a teaching assistant for Spanish and Theater. This issue is one that we understand the campus chapter’s leadership is navigating with the national Chi Omega organization. St. Lawrence University supports the identity of every student, and our Student Life team is here for all of our students grappling with issues of inclusion and belonging.”
Guzman says they hope the issue resolves and that it brings a larger conversation to the table regarding Greek life as a whole.
Copyright 2023 WWNY. All rights reserved.
