AUMNI NEWS
Kappa Alpha Psi Sponsor Comes Home After 53 Years What I am Most Proud of
By Donald L. Woolridge, Sr.
T he year is 1967. Craig Taylor, a 28-year old member of staff in Western Kentucky Univer- sity’s (WKU) criminology and scientology department, is about to take a chance that will lay the groundwork for Black Greek Letter Organizations on campus for years to come. A few things were taking place behind the scenes in an effort to bring more “Divine Nine” fraternities and sororities to campus. At this point in time, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was the only Divine Nine organization that had been established at WKU. In the spring of 1967, a group of stu- dents came together to form the “Kappa Q Club” that represented the interests of Divine Nine Organizations Kappa Alpha Psi and Omega Psi Phi. The students were told they had to have a probationary club for one year before they could char- ter a fraternity on campus. On order to do that, they needed a sponsor; enter Taylor, a White professor on a predominantly White teaching staff. “In the 1960s, the band was still play- ing ‘Dixie’ at ballgames and there were still a lot of Confederate flags around. It was a different world,” Taylor said. Howard Bailey was a member of the Kappa Q Club. When the students got to the part of the fraternity application that required a faculty advisor, Taylor immedi- ately came to mind. “I said, ‘Well, there’s Dr. Taylor in sociology’, and we already noticed that the faculty in the sociology department were much more receptive and conscious of race, which you would expect,” said Bailey. “So we decided, ‘let’s see, Dr. Taylor – I’ll ask him.”
State University and helped them get a chapter (Eta Beta); we went to Morehead and five or six other schools. If Craig Tay- lor hadn’t made that decision, all of that may not have happened.” Taylor grew close with many mem- bers of the fraternity and would even have thoughts of joining the organization himself, but had to sideline the idea due to other circumstances in his life. Bailey said there were multiple times Taylor told him he thought he would join, but the birth of a child, the strenuous tenure process and Pat’s passing prevented him from pursuing the dream. “He had those kinds of setbacks going on, but was al- ways interested in becoming a member of Kappa Alpha Psi,” Bailey said. Finally, in the Spring of 2022 at the age of 81, Taylor officially joined Kappa Alpha Psi and became a member 53 years after the Epsilon Rho Chapter was chartered. “I’ve told Howard (Bailey) and everybody else that’ll listen, that of all the things that I’ve accomplished in my fifty- some years here, this is what I’m proudest of,” Taylor said. “I’m glad Howard asked me and I was glad I was able to help. I’ve really enjoyed watching the organization, watching it grow.”
Bailey had previously been a student of both Taylor and his wife, Pat, and had already built somewhat of a relationship with them through pure coincidence. After Bailey brought the idea to Taylor’s attention, he asked Pat what she thought. Pat, a faculty member in WKU’s English department, was very supportive of the notion. “She could have said ‘no’ for a lot of reasons, but she said it’s the right thing to do,” Taylor said. With Pat’s endorse- ment, Taylor signed off as the sponsor of Craig Taylor started teaching sociology at WKU in 1967 and talked about current events in the Civil Rights Movement during his classes. When he told his wife about sponsoring a Black fraternity, he thought she'd tell him not to in case people higher up at the school disagreed. "She said it was the right thing to do, Taylor said.
the club, paving the way for the two fraternities to join the campus in 1969. Bailey was on the charter line of the Ep- silon Rho Chapter at WKU, also known as the “Nasty 19”, and Taylor served as an advi- sor for the chapter for a while. “If Craig Taylor hadn’t said ‘yes’, I don’t know where history would have taken us,” Bailey said. “After we got chartered, we went to Murray
Craig H. Taylor (Bowling Green (KY) AL 2022) and Howard E. Bailey (Epsilon Rho 1969).
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