Former Duke Republicans Chair Leaves Party

The Log Cabin Republicans closely followed the Duke scandal as it
unfolded, LCR national spokesman Charles T. Moran said, as did
Republican National Committee officials.

“After discussing the
situation with the leadership at [College Republicans], and in
consultation with an inquiry at the RNC, and reviewing the transcripts
from the meetings and communicating with the student government
oversight officials at Duke University itself, it was understood that
Mr. Robinette’s removal from office was not due to his sexual
orientation and there was no actual evidence to support such an
allegation,” Moran said.

An internal audit by the Duke student
government and the office for student affairs did not find evidence that
Robinette had misused organizational funds as chairman. However, a
student judiciary committee ruled last week that Robinette’s assertions
about the nature of his impeachment were unsubstantiated.

But
the student judiciary board and Duke University vice president for
student affairs Larry Moneta did not deny that Robinette was subjected
to homophobic remarks by members of the Duke College Republicans. “Given
Duke’s commitment to fostering a learning community where difference is
respected, diversity celebrated and inclusion demanded we must also
decry hateful language wherever it originates, whether individually or
in a group setting,” Moneta wrote in a Wednesday e-mail to students.

Robinette
said that following his April 14 resignation letter, he asked editors
at The Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s
student newspaper, to hold off on a story for 24 hours until he was able
to come out to his parents (the paper declined his request and ran a
story the next day, as did Duke’s student paper, The Chronicle).

“My
family is very religious, Southern Baptist, so you can probably imagine
they didn’t have nice things to say,” said Robinette, who grew up in
Lynn Haven, Fla., near Panama City. “I’ve always enjoyed being a member
of the Republican Party. I wouldn’t have run for the [North Carolina
Federation of College Republicans] if I didn’t feel like I represent the party’s ideals. Now I’m not sure how I feel about it.”