University of Texas student kicked out of sorority for 'All Lives Matter' TikTok as it was 'very unsisterly'
A student at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) was kicked out of her sorority for posting pictures from a pro-Trump rally on her TikTok handle and using the phrase "all lives matter". Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA) sorority kicked Jaycie Barton out for posting an eight-second TikTok in August which featured signs saying 'All Lives Matter' and 'Trump 2020.'
Barton has claimed that she was reprimanded by her sorority for 'unsisterly' conduct over the video. In a "charging statement", the sorority accused Barton for using the phrase "all lives matter" which it deems as "extremely hurtful to our sisters" and "very unsisterly." The statement further reads, "ZTA stands for Black Lives Matter and the statement All Lives Matter goes against ZTA's belief." Initially Barton had only been stripped of her title as risk reduction and education chairman, but later she was removed entirely from the sorority.
In the hearing against Barton, a member of the sorority accused the former member of thwarting the sorority's decision to be inclusive. "Zeta Tau Alpha is trying to be more inclusive and saying, 'all lives matter,' is not being very inclusive," the member said, according to Barton. In the email that Barton received from the sorority, on September 19, the UTSA ZTA’s judicial chairman informed her that she had been charged with failing to “cooperate in the best interest of the Fraternity,” and for conducting herself “in a manner detrimental to her chapter and/or members of the Fraternity,” among other things.
Of the judicial process within the sorority, Barton explained, "We have what’s called judicial board, where you get called up when you’ve done something wrong in the sorority." The judicial hearing was held via Zoom on September 21. Speaking about the sorority's claim that she was being hurtful and not inclusive, Barton said, "It’s pretty clear that I do support black lives. And I don’t understand how the sorority cannot see that the word ‘all’ includes everyone.”
The fact that supporters of 'Black Lives Matter' have repeatedly explained that the movement is not to indicate that Black lives matters more, but to show that Black lives matter too. So by falling back on this excuse that she believes all lives matter, Barton has only proved to her sorority that she does not have the same political beliefs that her sorority sisters do.
After the hearing on September 21, she was also asked to "complete a sensitivity training that involves inclusion and diversity.”
However, another hearing occurred after and she was removed from the sorority. While she attempted to speak to the national sorority office, the ZTA members did not allow the same. Barton also claimed that the member were being counterintuitive to what they wanted to achieve and said, "The sorority advocates for mental health, yet they allowed all these girls in the sorority to call me racist, flat out bullying me."