KA apologizes for Old South parade incident
Amanda Peterson
Published: Saturday, May 9, 2009The UA chapter of Kappa Alpha Order has issued an apology for interrupting the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority’s 35th anniversary celebration at the University on April 25.
KA, a traditionally white fraternity, hosted an Old South parade that day that stopped in front of the historically black sorority’s house on Magnolia Drive. The Crimson White reported on April 27 that parade participants were wearing Confederate uniforms and some carried Confederate flags.
According to a news release from the fraternity’s national administrative office, an investigation by the national and local KA officials found that the parade “stopped for a very short period of time” while picking up participants, who wore antebellum dresses from a nearby sorority house.
Fraternity officials will work to prevent another situation like it in the future, according to the release.
“We apologize for the interruption of the AKA event,” said Will Vandervoort, president of the KA chapter. “We moved our trucks as soon as we could given the traffic and loading and unloading. We sincerely regret what happened.”
Larry Wiese, executive director of the Kappa Alpha Order, said the Old South celebration and parade has been a tradition at the University for many years, but said the fraternity was sensitive to concerns from other students, faculty and community members.
“We want to meet with the appropriate parties and university officials to discuss steps to prevent this from happening again,” Wiese said.
On The Web: www.cw.ua.edu/ka-apologizes-for-old-south-parade-incident-1.1747703