Higher Education LGBT
Articles Digest #145
1. BRIDGETON NEWS (New Jersey) Gay
Cumberland County College student wants Boy Scouts banned from holding
functions on school grounds
2. ASSOCIATED PRESS Indiana University chancellor condemns
professor's anti-gay Web log
3. JOURNAL OF GAY & LESBIAN ISSUES IN EDUCATION Abstract:
Serving the Needs of Transgendered College Students
4. ASSOCIATED PRESS Matthew Shepard's mother discusses Kentucky
slaying at University of Kentucky
5. CHICAGO TRIBUNE Indiana University professor's anti-gay blog
raises academic freedom issues
6. STEPHENVILLE EMPIRE-TRIBUNE (Texas) First meeting of Tarleton
State University's Gay Straight Alliance is peaceful, despite threatened
protests
7. THE HOYA (Georgetown University) Congressman Barney Frank
Calls For Partisanship
8. SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD Syracuse University to discuss
anti-gay bias. Student meetings are prompted by attack on people perceived to
be gay.
9. NEW YORK TIMES Law schools sue U.S. Dept. of Defense seeking
to regain ability to bar military recruiters from college campuses
10. ASSOCIATED PRESS Gay fraternities gain status, popularity
Bridgeton News, September 17, 2003
Box 596, Bridgeton, NJ, 08302
(Fax: 609-451-7214 ) http://www.nj.com/news/bridgeton/index.ssf?/base/news-1/106380156439710.xml
GAY CUMBERLAND COUNTY COLLEGESTUDENT ASKS CHANGE
By Pete McCarthy, Staff Writer
VINELAND -- Kyle Brandon would like to see some changes made at Cumberland County College.
As an openly gay student, Brandon was dismayed by the fact that the Boy Scouts of America were recently allowed to hold a private function on school grounds, despite what he said are acts of discrimination against homosexuals by the organization.
Six months after beginning a discrimination complaint against the college, Brandon said CCC President Ken Ender has made no attempt to rectify the situation.
The 36-year-old Vineland resident, who is a full-time student in his second year at CCC, went before the Board of Trustees Tuesday with three requests.
"I believe it is the duty of the school administration to take the lead in providing a non-discriminatory and safe atmosphere for all students, regardless of their sexual orientation," said Brandon.
Currently, there is no language in CCC's policies speaking out against discrimination based on sexual orientation.
He wants that changed.
Brandon would also like to see the community college limit the rights of any "discriminatory private organizations to have access to college facilities for educational forums only."
Lastly, he would like a written apology for what he believes has been a complete lack of effort made by the school administration to address his grievance.
"I am here before the board only after a formal complaint was made to President Ender and a follow-up meeting with him made it clear that his obvious bias in favor of the BSA would ensure that no actions would result from my discrimination complaint," Brandon told the trustees.
The incident in question took place in April of this year and saw Ender honored by the Boy Scouts of America with the Distinguished Citizen Award.
Ender, a scout since he was 8 years old, held the event on the campus of CCC.
"When you are the president of the college, you should stay away from any organization that discriminates," Brandon said. "While President Ender's private views are his own, I personally feel he showed a lack of leadership by completely ignoring the rights of gay students by participating and sponsoring the BSA fundraiser on campus."
Brandon added an organization like the Boy Scouts, which he called biased against homosexuals, should not have been able to hold a private event on the public property.
"It's the same as having the (Ku Klux Klan) renting the Guaracini Theater," he said.
Board of Trustees President Joanne Gittone and Ender both declined to comment on the matter following the meeting.
All questions were referred to their solicitor, Frank Basile.
"The concerns are going to be considered along with all the facts relevant to the issue," he said.
Basile said he has been asked by the board to come up with an opinion on the matter, which will then be used during discussion and a vote by the entire board.
Associated Press, September 17, 2003 http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/0/075136-9690-093.html
INDIANA UNIVERSITY'S CHANCELLOR CONDEMNS PROFESSOR'S WEB LOG
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana University's chancellor said she wants officials to re-examine the school's rules for personal Web sites following a flap over anti-homosexual comments posted by a professor.
Anti-gay remarks on economics Professor Eric Rasmusen's Web log were "offensive, hurtful and very harmful stereotyping," Chancellor Sharon Brehm told the Bloomington Faculty Council.
But Rasmusen's right to express them was protected by the U.S. Constitution and IU policy on academic freedom, she said.
Rasmusen, who is a member of the Faculty Council, made no response during the meeting Tuesday but commented later to a reporter.
"It's hard to say anything interesting on the subject and make everybody happy, but that's no reason not to discuss it," he said.
Rasmusen said in his Web log that gays should not be teachers, pastors or elected officials. He maintained that male homosexuals tend to be attracted to boys, are "generally promiscuous" and are more likely than heterosexuals to molest children.
Brehm said such stereotyping is "completely at odds with Indiana University's commitment to inclusion and its respect for diversity."
Rasmusen later said he believed Brehm's position was outside mainstream opinion. "It is fine if that's her position, but she should realize it is a controversial one," he said.
Brehm said she would ask the University Faculty Council, which sets academic policy for all eight IU campuses, to re-examine procedures for personal Web sites maintained by faculty, staff and students.
A university attorney determined that the log did not violate any school policies, a day after the business school dean asked Rasmusen to remove it.
IU allows students and employees to create personal Web pages that are available through its Web site, but the university does not accept responsibility for their content.
Doug Bauder, coordinator of IU's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender support services office, said he was pleased with Brehm's statement. He said 45 students, staff and faculty met last week to brainstorm how to address the controversy.
Bauder said suggestions ranged from public protests to offering pro-diversity speakers for business classes.
"Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education"
An International Quarterly Devoted to Research, Policy, and Practice Volume 1, No. 1 (Fall, 2003)
SERVING THE NEEDS OF TRANSGENDERED COLLEGE STUDENTS
By Brett Beemyn, Ohio State University
ABSTRACT: Transgendered youth have become more visible in the last decade but remain one of the most underserved populations on college campuses and have largely been ignored in the higher education literature. To provide a context for understanding the experiences of gender variant students, this article provides a brief history of transgenderism before discussing the handful of published narratives by transgendered youth. It concludes with recommendations for educators seeking to improve the campus climate for people of all genders.
FROM THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
A glance at the fall issue of the "Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education": Transgender college students
Colleges need to provide a safe and accepting environment for transgender students now that "more and more college students are rejecting the gender assigned to them and openly exploring other gender possibilities," says Brett Beemyn, the coordinator of services for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students at Ohio State University at Columbus.
College forms, dormitories, and bathrooms that require students to identify themselves as male or female send messages to transgender students that they are not welcome, he says. More-inclusive language, wider options for living arrangements, and access to single-occupant bathrooms can help transgender students feel more at home.
Although many colleges have centers for gay, lesbian, and bisexual students, and some centers now include "transgender" in their names, few directors of those facilities are well acquainted with the needs of transgender students. Having a center that offers programs and services specifically for transgender students is "the most important step a college can take to improve the climate for gender-variant people," he writes.
Associated Press, September 18, 2003 http://www.trib.com/AP/wire_detail.php?wire_num=217695
MATTHEW SHEPARD'S MOTHER [VISITS UNIVERISTY OF KENTUCKY AND] DISCUSSES KENTUCKY SLAYING By Murray Evans, Associated Press Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Judy Shepard knows the pain felt by the family of a Rineyville man who was slain in June, allegedly because he was gay.
Shepard is the mother of Matthew Shepard, the 21-year-old gay Wyoming college student who was murdered in October 1998. She was speaking at the University of Kentucky on Thursday night after discussing several gay-related Kentucky issues during a news conference.
Without prompting, Shepard brought up the death of 36-year-old Guinn ''Richie'' Phillips of Rineyville. Phillips' body was found in a suitcase in Rough River Lake.
The man charged with murdering Phillips, Josh Cottrell, told relatives that he planned to kill Phillips because Phillips was gay, according to Kentucky State Police records. The slaying has drawn calls from gay-rights activists who want the state to enact a tougher hate crimes law.
Committing crimes such as intimidation, assault and vandalism against someone because of their race, religion, ethnic origin or sexual orientation has been against state law since 2000, but the law does not apply to murder.
''I hope (Phillips' family members) know they're not alone in this fight,'' Shepard said. ''There are way too many of us in this club.
''I know that (in Kentucky) you can't declare murder a hate crime. That's unfortunate, if only for the statistic that it would create. But my favorite part of hate crime legislation is the education. If we can educate young people about sensitivity to minorities, that would really be the most important thing.''
Shepard, the executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, said she wasn't too familiar with the case of the Gay-Straight Alliance at Boyd County High School in Cannonsburg. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing the club, filed a federal lawsuit in January to force the school district to allow the club to form on campus.
A judge issued an injunction that allowed the club to meet during school hours.
''It's really sad,'' Shepard said. ''What is wrong with that? Do they think that they're going to have an infection or a disease? That's who these kids are, and they deserve every right to be who they are and with people that they like and learn how to be who they are in a safe environment.
''Schools that are filled with violence and discrimination are fearful, and no one learns in that kind of environment. To have an organization like the Gay-Straight Alliance only breeds confidence and familiarity with the issues so there is no fear and hopefully no hate and no violence. There is no danger there.''
The common denominator in similar cases across the nation is the lack of respect and tolerance, Shepard said.
Shepard said she speaks at about 45 to 50 colleges per year. She includes in her presentation a reading of the victim impact statement she gave in court after her son's death.
''I read my victim impact statement to take people back in time. It's been five years now, so it's a stretch to think that these young people will remember that. They need to be taken back.
''My program is about acceptance and diversity, all in relation to the death of my son, Matthew. I talk about how to be fair and kind to one another and how I feel that if people were kind, the things that happened to Matt wouldn't happen.''
. On the Web: Matthew Shepard Foundation: www.matthewshepard.org
Chicago Tribune, September 19, 2003
435 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60611
(Fax: 312-222-2598 ) (E-Mail: ctc-tribletter@tribune.com )
( http://www.chicagotribune.com ) http://www.chicagotribune.com/search/chi-0309180370sep19,1,7677666.story
INDIANA PROF'S BLOG RAISES ACADEMIC FREEDOM ISSUES
By Maureen Ryan, Tribune staff reporter
Should homosexuals be hired as teachers? One outspoken Internet pundit says no. But his opinion has fueled a controversy over academic freedom of expression because it is posted on a site maintained by the writer's employer, a state university.
Hiring gay teachers "puts the fox into the chickencoop," Eric Rasmusen wrote on his Web log, or "blog," on Aug. 26. "Male homosexuals, at least, like boys and are generally promiscuous," he continued. "They should not be given the opportunity to satisfy their desires."
Rasmusen's blog resides on the server of Indiana University, where he is a professor in the business school. His posted musings on whether homosexuals should be allowed to be teachers, pastors or other kinds of "moral exemplars" have caused a major campus uproar in the past few weeks.
"It's almost impossible to keep up with the reaction - it's been as strong from the faculty and staff as it has been from students," says Doug Bauder, the university's coordinator of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student support services.
Writing a blog for public perusal has become the latest fad on the Internet, and students and professors across the country are taking advantage of the trend - and of the free Web pages provided by many universities.
Rasmusen's Web writings would have probably remained obscure had Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor who runs a popular group blog called The Volokh Conspiracy, not posted a link to the writings on Rasmusen's site on Sept. 2.
Soon officials at IU were alerted to the content of Rasmusen's site, and on Sept. 4, Dan Dalton, the dean of the IU's Kelley School of Business, had a meeting with Rasmusen, who offered to temporarily transfer his blog to a private server while university lawyers evaluated whether his writings violated school policy regarding information posted on personal Web pages.
IU policy says the university doesn't monitor content unless someone files a complaint that a Web page "contains material that violates the law or University policy."
"Free expression of ideas is a central value within the academy," the written policy states.
If the writings "had appeared in any other forum except a university Web site, I would never have intervened," Dalton said. "I've had many phone calls and e-mails, and people have various views, but relatively few of them have criticized the individual [Rasmusen] - the overwhelming majority have criticized the Kelley School of Business or IU [for allowing it to be posted], and that was the basis for my concern."
It didn't take long for the school's lawyers to decide Rasmusen's site did not violate any university policies, and it soon went back on the school's server. But at a faculty council meeting Tuesday in Bloomington, Ind., IU Chancellor Sharon Brehm, while confirming Rasmusen's right to make the statements on his Web page, called them "deeply offensive, hurtful and very harmful stereotyping."
Brehm also asked the university faculty council to look into possible changes to the university's personal Web page policies; putting disclaimers on each site is under discussion, Brehm said.
Such a move would be constitutional, though perhaps unnecessary, says Volokh, an expert on freedom of speech. "It might diminish the heat the university might get in future, and it would just reinforce in people's minds what they probably ought to know already."
Perhaps the most famous academic blogger of all is Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee, who calls himself The InstaPundit on his popular Web site. Reynolds' site is located on a private server, not one maintained by his university employer.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say I had a really conscious desire to maintain separation" between his academic career and his Internet punditry, Reynolds says.
"I thought some jerk might make an issue some day, so I decided to take that [possibility] away."
Daniel Drezner, a professor at the University of Chicago who writes a blog about current events, says there are big differences between scholarly writing and the shoot-from-the-hip immediacy of the blogging world.
"I would be reluctant to have blogging factored into tenure decisions," he says. "The whole idea of scholarship is to meditate on an idea, to test it critically and . . . to have your idea peer-reviewed. It's slow, but your ideas are tested in the most rigorous way possible. Blogs are often about spouting off what you're thinking without 10 minutes of reflection, and 30 minutes later you're sometimes wondering, 'Did I really write that?'"
As for Eric Rasmusen, he said via e-mail that as a result of the controversy, "I will be even more careful to only post things I really believe, and to correct any errors people point out immediately."
But in a recent post on his Web page, he also pointed out that his Web log now has "ten times the number of readers it used to have."
Stephenville Empire-Tribune, September 19, 2003
Box 958, Stephenville, TX, 76401
(Fax: 254-965-4269 ) ( http://www.empiretribune.com ) http://www.empiretribune.com/EMPIRETRIBUNE/sites/EMPIRETRIBUNE/1031edition/myarticles862065.asp?P=862065&S=425&PubID=14252
[TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY'S GAY STRAIGHT] ALLIANCE MEETS MINUS THREATENED PROTEST By Chelsea Behymer, Staff Writer
Despite negative feedback and threats of public protest, the first general meeting of Tarleton State University's newest student organization began peacefully Thursday night.
Over a dozen supporters of the Gay Straight Alliance met on the top floor of the Tarleton Library to discuss future events and policy.
Chris McKee, a graduate student at Tarleton, presided over the meeting after speaking with the Empire-Tribune about the purpose of the GSA.
"We aren't out to make everyone accepting of our lifestyle," McKee said. "All we want is equality and the understanding that we exist."
Since his freshman year at Tarleton, McKee has been openly gay. He only recently decided on the need for gay activism at Tarleton, after meeting several other homosexual and bisexual students who voiced a desire for support.
"I seriously considered leaving Tarleton, because of the oppression towards gays," McKee said. "But I decided that rather than leave, I would try to make this a safe haven for all the other gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered students."
In order to get the word out about the fledgling organization, McKee has used many advertising avenues. In addition to manning a booth during Rush Week on campus, he has posted global e-mails to the entire Tarleton campus.
"I have just done what any other organization would do to advertise," McKee said. "But for me, it's a risk."
Advertising seems to have been at least somewhat successful, as McKee, member Sean Curran Goldberg and faculty adviser Dr. Marcy Tanter were joined by members of both the homo- and heterosexual communities.
According to McKee, over 50 people turned in detailed membership applications in full support of the GSA. And support is what they are looking for.
"We aren't running a campaign to sway everyone to a gay lifestyle," Goldberg said. "We simply want other students to understand that we are people just like them, and we deserve the same respect."
McKee believes that Tarleton's location in the Bible-Belt of America has a lot to do with the hostility toward the gay lifestyle.
"It's not about religion," he said. "It's about a basic respect for other human beings."
McKee also said that for a long time, TSU has had a stereotype of being a closed-minded campus when it comes to alternate sexual orientations, despite the campus slogan "Excellence in Diversity."
"I am hoping that, through the GSA, Tarleton will be able to live up to its slogan," said McKee.
Tanter said that she was motivated to support the GSA after a long struggle for homosexual awareness at Tarleton.
"The important thing is that [the students] don't give in," Tanter said. "As long as there are students on this campus and it this community that feel like they have to hide who they are, there is a mission for this group."
The Hoya, September 19, 2003
Georgetown University, Box 571065, Washington, DC 20057-1065
(Fax: 202-687-2741) (E-Mail: editor@thehoya.com )
( http://www.thehoya.com ) http://www.thehoya.com/news/091903/news2.cfm
[Barney] Frank Calls For Partisanship
By Drew Johnson-Skinner, Special to The Hoya
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) criticized President Bush while defending his own party at the College Democrats' first meeting of the school year Tuesday night.
"One attack against Democrats is [that] we don't appreciate a fair and efficient economy," Frank said. "Not only do we appreciate the role of a private sector that is prosperous and efficient, we miss it since Bill Clinton left office."
With his collar unbuttoned and shirt sleeves rolled up, Frank also spoke out against the president on social issues, saying that on housing, minimum wage and health care, the Bush administration wants to "undo what [Franklin D. Roosevelt] did." He called the Bush presidency the "most conservative since Calvin Coolidge."
With the Democratic presidential primary heating up, Frank also criticized swing voters, encouraging the standing-room-only audience to be strong in their partisanship.
"Most thoughtful voters in our country today are people who vote for the same party every time," he said. "It is the independents, who go back and forth, who are airheads."
Frank called political partisanship "one of the most undervalued concepts in American politics."
"The framers of the Constitution thought parties were a bad idea - almost an hour later they were making them," he said. "If you care a lot about public policy, you ought to be either a Democrat or a Republican."
Frank did not shy away from telling students which party he thought was the one to choose. On the economy, health care and gay rights, Frank called the Democratic Party "morally and politically superior."
The 12-term congressman has been a leader for the Democrats on gay rights issues, convincing Al Gore to come out against the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy in the 2000 presidential race. Frank disclosed his own homosexuality in 1987, seven years after taking office.
Contrary to common opinion of Democrats, Frank says he does want to "legislate moral public policy." He made a distinction, however, between legislating morality when people are hurting others and when people are hurting themselves.
"I spend a lot of energy trying to protect people from other people, I don't have any energy to protect them from themselves," Frank said. "If someone wants to look at dirty pictures . what do I care?"
Frank spoke to the College Democrats in a crowded room in St. Mary's Hall, with students standing against the back walls and sitting on the floor to hear the congressman.
During the question and answer session, Frank addressed the Democratic presidential race. He encouraged Gen. Wesley Clark to "get in and run," but told the audience he was backing Sen. John Kerry (Mass.).
Asked about former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Frank characterized him as a political opportunist. "He figured out there was this vacuum on the left and moved into it," he said. "He did a very calculated thing."
He also predicted that President Bush will face a close race next November. "Sept. 11 disarranged American politics," he said. "We are getting back into a more normal situation."
College Democrats President Mary Gibson (COL '05) said she thought Frank's speech was a success. "He reminds me of why I'm a Democrat," she said.
The Syracuse Post-Standard, September 18, 2003 http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-11/106387430795440.x
ml?syrneocit
SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY TO DISCUSS ANTI-GAY BIAS
STUDENT MEETINGS ARE PROMPTED BY ATTACK ON PEOPLE PERCEIVED AS GAY By Nancy Buczek Staff writer Syracuse University residence hall advisers will be talking with students during their floor meetings within the next week about the Sunday morning attack that targeted some students perceived to be gay. At a forum of about 200 people Tuesday night to discuss the attack, some of the about 120 resident advisers who attended said they need more help from the university to talk with the students they oversee about diversity. Pam Peter, assistant director of residence life, said her office is compiling facilitator guides for the advisers to use during floor meetings, which are typically held on Sunday and Monday nights. She said the guides include copies of newspaper articles about the attack and questions designed to stimulate discussion. "What I think this crime really did was show people that we have a long way to go with LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues, especially on this campus," said Jennifer Spinner, advocacy coordinator for Pride Union, SU's undergraduate group for LGBT students. "I think more students are becoming aware that we aren't accepted by everyone, and there is a need to show your support." Sunday's attack,which university officials are calling a hate crime, took place about 1:30 a.m. in the 200 block of Ostrom Avenue. Three SU students and a friend were mocked by a man walking by them with three other people. When the students' friend defended them, the man knocked him to the ground and repeatedly hit him while making anti-gay remarks, said Kevin Morrow, speaking for SU. The college's Department of Public Safety is investigating. The university's most common reported bias-related incidents occur in the residence halls and typically are when students write messages to each other on the white boards on their doors, said Juanita Perez Williams, director of SU's judicial affairs office, and Marlene Hall, director of public safety, at the forum. "The thing that we're seeing with the bias-related incidents that have been reported is a predominant number of them are targeting the LGBT community," said Adrea Jaehnig, director of SU's LGBT Resource Center. "By that I mean the word 'fag' being written on someone's door . . . the pervasiveness of comments that are not meant as compliments. They're used as a way to put someone down. Calling something gay or queer, even in the most 'innocent' way, sends a cultural message that something is bad." In recent years, SU has made an effort to make gay and lesbian issues more prominent throughout campus. Last year, the university opened the LGBT Resource Center at 750 Ostrom Ave. to provide education about gay issues and sponsor programs for the whole campus. "It's been a serious commitment that the university has made," Jaehnig said. The University Senate last year created a committee on gay concerns. Andrew London, a co-chair of the committee, said the group won a $5,000 university Vision Fund grant to work on ways to bring gay perspectives and issues into the classroom. They've invited experts to talk about how to infuse the issues into the classroom, discussed developing a minor in gay and lesbian studies and talked with teachers and students about how to address the issues in the classroom. Next year,teaching assistants will be given a gay resource book for classroom use, London said. Spinner said SU seems to be on the right path. "I think this is going to become known as a very accepting place to learn, but I do think it's going to take a little while to turn around the negative thoughts that are turning in people's heads about being gay at Syracuse University," she said.
New York Times, September 20, 2003 http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/education/20LAW.html
LAW SCHOOLS SEEK TO REGAIN ABILITY TO BAR MILITARY RECRUITERS By Sam Dillon An organization of law schools and a group representing hundreds of legal scholars sued the Department of Defense and five other federal agencies yesterday, seeking to help universities and colleges that want to keep military recruiters off their campuses because of the department's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gay men and lesbians. The suit challenges the constitutionality of a federal law that punishes universities with loss of some federal money if they use their antidiscrimination policies to exclude military recruiters. It follows a successful campaign by the Defense Department to force some of the nation's most prestigious law schools to allow military recruiters on campus. In recent years, the department has advised Harvard, Yale, Columbia and 20 other universities that they could lose federal aid if they did not allow recruiters at their law schools. For some universities, the dispute put at risk hundreds of millions of dollars for research on everything from weapons systems to the humanities. By this past summer, "every law school whose institution receives federal funds caved to the military's demands," according to the complaint filed yesterday in Newark before Judge John C. Lifland. The suit says that every accredited American law school has adopted policies that bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and that the schools have sought to apply these policies without making any exception for what the suit describes as "the military and its discriminatory policy regarding sexual orientation." Some law schools barred military recruiters from entering their campuses. Others allowed them entry while arranging visits under conditions that set them apart from recruiters representing law firms and corporations whose practices the law schools do not consider discriminatory. In 1995, Congress passed the Solomon amendment, named for its sponsor, Representative Gerald B. H. Solomon of New York, barring disbursement of money from the Departments of Defense, Transportation, Health and Human Services, Education and some other federal agencies to any college or university that obstructed campus recruiting by the military. The suit filed yesterday argues that the Solomon amendment violates law schools' First Amendment rights to academic freedom. "The plaintiffs are seeking to prohibit enforcement of the Solomon amendment," said Michael Chagares, chief of the civil division of the United States attorney's office in Newark. "We will contend that the Solomon amendment is constitutional and will seek to prohibit any limitation on its enforcement." The plaintiffs asked Judge Lifland to order the government immediately to stop threatening restrictions on federal money to law schools as a result of the recruiting dispute, pending the lawsuit's outcome. He denied the request. The organization of law schools that filed the suit, the Forum for Academic and Institutional Rights, includes "at least five" prominent law schools that have been threatened with legal action by the Department of Defense, said Kent Greenfield, a Boston College Law School professor who helped found the group. But Mr. Greenfield said none of the law schools were willing to be named publicly because they feared retribution from the Defense Department or its allies in Congress. Another plaintiff is the Society of American Law Teachers, which has a membership of 900 law professors.
Associated Press, September 21, 2003 http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/092103/new_20030921053.shtml
GAY FRATERNITIES GAIN STATUS, POPULARITY
SOCIAL SIDE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
By Adrienne Schwisow, Associated Press
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - By the end of the year, 22-year-old Anthony Whitten hopes to persuade 20 men to join the University of Virginia's first gay fraternity, a group he wants to transform into one of the South's few nationally affiliated collegiate gay brotherhoods.
The group calls itself Out on Rugby, a reference to a neighborhood street lined with brick frat houses off the campus of this traditional school, where male students still wear ties to football games and women were not even admitted into most academic programs until 1970.
About 30 percent of the current student body is affiliated with a fraternity or sorority. For Whitten, Out on Rugby fills a gap in a Greek system that he says traditionally has been perceived as "heterosexist," and uncomfortable for gay men. The new group creates a community not only for them, but for what he calls "progressive" straight men who aren't fazed by others' sexual orientations.
"We don't really have any criteria," Whitten said. "Anyone who is interested and wants to be a part can join."
The group of about 10 men in Charlottesville is part of a burgeoning number of similar clusters nationwide trying to join one of two national gay fraternities, said Eric Van Sant, vice president of expansion for Delta Lambda Phi, the larger of the two.
The fraternity has 18 chapters, about 300 members and nine colonies, or groups in the process of becoming chapters. In addition, 13 interest groups like the one at U.Va. recently have contacted the fraternity about starting the chapter-building process, the most in any single year, Van Sant said.
The other national fraternity, Alpha Lambda Tau, has three chapters and one colony, according to its Web site.
By contrast, there are 66 traditional fraternities with roughly 5,300 chapters on more than 800 campuses nationwide, according to the North American Interfraternity Conference.
Shane Windmeyer, editor of the 1998 book "Out on Fraternity Row: Personal Accounts of Being Gay in a College Fraternity," said U.Va.'s group is important precisely because it's taking root at a traditionally conservative school.
The lack of resistance to it shows that "two men holding hands is no longer seen as an evil, counterculture, abnormal thing," added Justin Wienckowski, a senior at Virginia Tech and a founder of Virginia Out, a statewide organization of gay campus groups.
Sean Lloyd, president of the Delta Lambda Phi chapter at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, says his fraternity gives the eight brothers - including one straight one - and four pledges a place to find acceptance and friendship, especially if they are struggling with identity problems, without an accompanying pressure to have sex.
"We're not a dating service," said Lloyd, 27. He said the fraternity has had a few problems with failed relationships, and officially discourages dating between brothers. "You're here because you believe in the ideals of Delta Lambda Phi, not because you're looking for your next boyfriend or your next sexual partner."
Whitten, who is studying to be a teacher, is president of Out on Rugby. At this point, the group is simply a university-affiliated organization going through the probationary period required for it to become part of the Multi-Cultural Greek Council. If Out on Rugby is accepted by the council in December, it can begin the process of becoming a chapter of one of the national fraternities.
While the group has not generated any organized opposition, the president of U.Va's Interfraternity Council has objected to the name, saying it erroneously suggests the group is affiliated with U.Va.'s traditional fraternities, many of which have chapter houses on Rugby Road.
"It's inappropriate because they don't have a house on Rugby, and there should be no mention of Rugby," said senior Ryan Ewalt. "In the common fraternity man's eyes, it's a misnomer."
But for gay fraternities, the ultimate goal is to get more chapters included in Interfraternity Councils, the student-run groups that govern schools' Greek systems, Van Sant said.
"Then we'll have a seat at the table with all the other fraternities to demonstrate that we're all the same," he said.
Still, the fact that some gay men say they often haven't felt comfortable in traditional fraternities and feel a need to start their own, suggests that the groups are not all the same.
"I thought it would be neat to be in a fraternity, but I didn't see myself fitting into that cookie-cutter type," Lloyd said. "With us, you can bring your boyfriend to events, you don't have to try and find a girl to take. It's that kind of thing."