The women of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. are in the middle of a crazy legal situation that has led to a judge in Chicago to order the director of the sorority to bring financial records to the courthouse today. The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting that Cook County Judge Daniel Riley seemed concerned that, for two days in a row, the person in charge of the organization's financial record has refused to show. The newspaper reports:

"They didn't bring me the person I asked for twice," the judge said.

On Tuesday, Riley had found the group in contempt of court for failing to have its records custodian in court, as he had ordered on Monday. Instead, the national sorority sent a human resources manager Tuesday who said she didn't have the records.

The legal wrangling has occurred as a result of a lawsuit filed by members of the group alleging improper spending by Barbara A. McKinzie, the group's president. They are questioning, among other things, the $1 million in compensation she received from the organization. The judge ruled on July 1 that 94-year-old Julia Purnell, a former president and the oldest living former president of the organization, could inspect the financial records. Purnell, who sued to see the documents, said she would present her findings to the organization at the St. Louis meeting where the sorority is currently holding its national meeting. Her attorneys are saying that the group has refused to give her access to the records.


I was terribly disappointed to read about the complex and disturbing legal issues that have laid a stain on such a storied and respected organization. Nearly all of the women in my family are AKAs, and I know they joined the organization because it garners so much respect around the world. While I've not heard from AKA leadership about what's going on here, I'll lay out some simple facts from an outside observer who also happens to be a professor of finance:

1) A $1 million in compensation MUST be explained to your membership in a clear and transparent fashion. That's 250 percent more than the president of the United States earns in a year, so I would expect that the membership might want an explanation for what could appear to be serious financial mismanagement. If it is not the case that President McKinzie has done anything unethical then she must make it clear that this is not the situation.

2) I honestly do not understand the organization's lack of financial transparency in general. A public organization with an incredibly broad membership that refuses to reveal its financial information, even at the expense of being held in contempt of court clearly has something to hide. Whether there is a legitimate reason for such evasive behavior should be up to the membership to decide. At the very least, Purnell was right to sue for the rights to see the financial records and present her findings to the organization. There is reason to be suspicious of the activities of McKinzie, who has faced tremendous scrutiny for her problematic leadership style. In fact, a judge wrote this about McKinzie earlier this year:


This case is largely about several disgruntled AKA members disillusioned with what they see as an increasingly opaque, authoritarian and self-serving leadership in their organization. The question remains, however, whether such behavior warrants judicial intervention.


3) Most impressive is the 94-year-old Purnell. Yes, Dorothy Height was a great woman, but it appears that Julia Purnell possesses an equally strong fighting spirit. When a 94-year-old woman fights this hard to do what she feels is right for her organization, she is sending a clear signal that her motivations are driven by the longevity of the sorority she loves so much. At the very least, I presume she did not pay herself a $1 million in salary when she ran the organization, so her motivations were likely not financial.

The bottom line is that McKinzie, by appearing to withhold valuable information from her organization's membership, is making it seem that she is making herself wealthy at the organization's expense. (For that much money, I'd be willing to serve as president of the KKK.) I am not one to say that this is the case, but the truth is that she needs to "fess up." When you take a $1 million from a group and then don't explain why you did it that's going to certainly and justifiably raise some eyebrows.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.