An all-male fraternity at the University of Michigan is in the midst of a legal battle for a reason you may not expect: It admitted women and people who identify as non-binary as members and its parent organization is angry.
New York based-Sigma Phi Society is attempting to sever ties with its U-M fraternity chapter claiming in a lawsuit the chapter is causing harm to the national organization and its trademarks. A preliminary injunction issued last week ordered the chapter to stop using the fraternity's name and its Greek letters, but the chapter is challenging that injunction.
A U.S. District Judge will consider the case today.
The Detroit News reported that Stephanie Stoneback joined Michigan's Sigma Phi's fall 2016 pledge class, which included five men and four other women at a time when a fraternity member who was male began to identify as a woman and another began to identify as non-binary.
"It did feel sort of like we were pioneering something," Stoneback told the News. "But honestly, it really just felt like I was joining a group of friends."
Since then, Michigan Sigma Phi has accepted dozens of members who are not men, Stoneback told the News.
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David Nacht, a lawyer representing Michigan Sigma Phi, said the fraternity is progressive.
"These are progressive University of Michigan fraternity members," said Nacht. "That is not a phrase you hear often. These are people who are standing up for civil rights, inclusion and gender equality. And we just want to give them a right to do so and have a voice."
On the other side, the national arm of the society, which touts itself as the oldest fraternity in the country, wrote in the lawsuit: "In a nutshell, Defendants want to continue to operate as a Sigma Phi Chapter, identify as a Sigma Phi Chapter, and use the Trademarks — without following the rules. Respectfully, Defendants cannot have it both ways."