The Large N_c Baryon-Meson I_t = J_t Rule Holds for Three Flavors

It has long been known that nonstrange baryon-meson scattering in the 1/N_c expansion of QCD greatly simplifies when expressed in terms of t-channel exchanges: The leading-order amplitudes satisfy the selection rule I_t = J_t. We show that I_t = J_t, as well as Y_t = 0, also hold for the leading amplitudes when the baryon and/or meson contain strange quarks, and also characterize their 1/N_c corrections, thus opening a new front in the phenomenological study of baryon-meson scattering and baryon resonances.