Members of the oldest African American sorority are suing their president. 20 members of a Chicago chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. are taking President Barbara McKinzie and other sorority officials to court citing misappropriation of funds. The members are ultimately asking that McKinzie be removed from her position as president and filed a complaint asking a court to, “restore their beloved sorority to its former high standards of governance, corporate transparency and active member communication.”
She is accused of spending $900,000 of the sorority’s money to have a wax figure of herself made, taking $400,000 for personal expenses and arranging a $4,000 month stipend for herself after leaving office.
McKinzie claims here innocence and said the wax figure in her likeness and the wax figure of the organization’s first president, Nellie Quander, only cost $45,000. In her own words she said the lawsuit was “backlash to enforced stringent financial standards as part of a professionalization of our organization.”
She also added, “Change never comes easy. The malicious allegations leveled against AKAs by former leaders are based on mischaracterizations and fabrications not befitting our ideals of sisterhood, ethics and service.”
The wax figures are currently at the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum in Baltimore where they will be part of the Black fraternity and sorority representatives exhibit.
