Earlier this month, Mayor Fenty, probably by accident, almost stuck DC taxpayers with a $37,000 bill for an open-bar reception he threw for his  Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He gave the money back, and sort of blamed his staff. All of which is a bit awkward for a mayor already saddled with some minor appropriations scandals, but for me it brought to mind another problem.

Mayor Fenty graduated from Oberlin College in 1992 (I’m a 1994 grad). The college had then, and still maintains as far as I’m aware, a ban on all fraternities (despite bizarre references to a fictitious all-white fraternity in NBC’s The West Wing). Here’s the wording, from the student handbook:

“No secret society is allowed at Oberlin, and no other societies or self-perpetuating organization is allowed among students, except by permission of the faculty. This is to be understood to include social and rooming-house clubs.”

This ban was one of the things that drew me to Oberlin as a high school senior, and it was a point of pride among most of the students who attended the school. Oberlin tries to be an open community without a lot of weird cliques and social dividers. Even so, the Kappas were known to exist at Oberlin, keeping a low profile most of the time but occasionally conducting hazing rituals on campus.

It’s possible Fenty became a Kappa at Howard, where he went to law school, but more likely that he joined while an undergrad. That’s a shame. Many students find fraternities and sororities positive contributors to college life, and helpful in career networking after school, but Oberlin’s frat ban is an important symbol of the school’s commitment to social justice and equality, and it should be respected and enforced.