The sorority membership of a Texas college student was terminated after she was disciplined for a social media post containing the phrase “All Lives Matter.”
Jaycie Barton, a senior at the University of Texas at San Antonio and former member of the Zeta Tau Alpha-Lambda Gamma sorority, was disciplined and stripped of her leadership position last month over the controversial video and has now been booted from the sorority after voicing her displeasure with the ruling.
“The statement ‘All Lives Matter’ is extremely hurtful to our sisters and is very unsisterly,” the sorority told Barton in August after leadership said they received complaints over a video filmed by Barton at a pro-Trump rally where a sign saying “All Lives Matter” could briefly be seen on the screen. “ZTA stands for ‘Black Lives Matter,’ and the statement ‘All Lives Matter’ goes against ZTA’s belief.”
Barton disputed the disciplinary action taken against her at the time and was told by sorority leadership that “All Lives Matter” “is perceived as a racist statement,” even if Barton doesn’t “perceive herself as racist.”
Barton says she was also told that a sorority member who posted messaging supporting Black Lives Matter would not be punished by the group.
Barton was then sanctioned, stripped of her official title, and ordered to complete sensitivity training after a disciplinary hearing. She was also told that her fellow sorority sisters had been driven to tears over her social media post.
After disputing the punishment and taking time to determine what her response would be, Barton was notified of her removal from the sorority.
A reason for the termination was not given on the official document, but Barton had been brought up on charges of “Violating the Constitution & Bylaws of Zeta Tau Alpha” and “conducting herself in a manner detrimental to her chapter and/or members of the Fraternity” after she spoke to Washington Examiner about the incident.
Barton did not attend the disciplinary hearing, citing concerns about her own “mental health and sanity,” but submitted a statement in her defense that went unanswered before she was notified of her termination days later.
“For the sake of my mental health & sanity, I have decided against attending tomorrow morning’s judicial hearing,” Barton said in her statement. “In fact, the minutes from the previous hearing show that these hearings are merely an excuse to attack me personally because of my political beliefs. Instead of subjecting myself to more abuse, I have decided to submit this statement in my defense.”
Barton continued: “From the very first beginning of the unjustified attacks against me, I have requested to be put in touch with national ZTA leaders; people who might put an end to the harassment against me. Yet, the harassment continued without intervention. As a result, I told my story of harassment and politically fueled discrimination to the press; I exposed your hate filled campaign against me. I will not apologize for exercising my freedom of speech and thought or for expressing my strongly held political opinions. I have done nothing wrong. You have allowed [Name redacted] to call me a racist on social media and numerous other members of the sorority to unfairly bully & harass me without consequence. It’s extremely concerning that the sorority advocates for mental health awareness but then participates in the attacks against me. Please know that, whatever you may decide, I will not be censored or silenced by Zeta Tau Alpha.”
A province president at the sorority did not respond to a request for comment from Washington Examiner.
