Sebastian White :: Anti-Gay Poll Tests Campus Resolve

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Anti-Gay Poll Tests Campus Resolve

The Empty Closet | June 2, 2004
By Sebastian White

ALFRED, N.Y., May 8—It's probably not a far stretch to think there are few secrets in this tiny two-college, one-stoplight town of 4,000 nestled among the rolling hills of New York's Southern Tier. But this week, on the campus of Alfred University, one of two colleges that flank this narrow ribbon of a town, attention was shifting from final exams to solving a veritable whodunit: who placed the anti-gay poll on a University Web site?

Reaction was swift and concerted to the discovery on the last day of classes of a controversial survey that included pejorative language and that was posted on My-AU, an internal Web site accessible only to students and university personnel.

Bertna Ngin, the president of Spectrum, AU’s gay and lesbian student organization, who was among the first to get wind of the offending content and who worked with the University’s information technology services to quickly remove it, said he was “absolutely appalled” by the matter.

No one is certain how long the anonymous poll was on My-AU, a loosely regulated information portal on the University’s network that allows members of the campus community to interact informally, and which is run entirely by students. Recent topics of discussion online have ranged from “War: What is it good for?” to “How is the Internet service on campus?” It was in the latter poll that an unrelated option, which included an anti-gay slur, was offered among the response set.

After coordinating the poll’s removal, Ngin contacted top-level administrators, faculty, current students and alumni via e-mail to orchestrate a response. “We can educate people and help create awareness but is that enough?” he mused. “The answer is no. The answer is to step up and make a difference.”

Ngin’s believes his message “excited alumni to take action and it excited the deans of our school and the faculty.” The reaction has been an entirely positive one, he said. “The school has been on our side supporting us in every way possible.”

AU’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students, Gerald D. Brody, quickly condemned the incident, as well, calling it “appalling” and vowing to proceed with judicial action if the identity of the anonymous poster could be established.

Arolana Meissner, associate vice president for information technology services, said in an e-mail that her office had initiated an inquiry into the matter. “The University's ‘Responsible Use of Computing Resources Policy’ prohibits this kind of material and those who abuse the policy are subject to disciplinary action through the University's judicial process,” she wrote.

But soon it was evident that the perpetrator's identity would remain a mystery. Meissner confirmed that due to a computer programming glitch, AU would be unable to identify the individual who posted the poll, but she assured the campus community that the University has "put additional safeguards into effect to make sure that an authenticated name is associated with every poll."

Crystal Lehman, a junior at AU, said that while she appreciates the University’s response, she is concerned about the lack of student reaction. The poll had received 57 votes prior to officials being alerted of its existence. “In light of this issue, I guess I feel disappointed in the student body at AU—or at least a portion of it. I had thought that people would be likely to look at something like that poll and immediately speak up to correct it.”

The reaction to the incident was unsurprising for AU, an institution which is perhaps better known for its strong reputation in the ceramic arts than for its equally strong record on gay and lesbian issues, according to Dr. Vicki Eaklor, chair of the University’s division of human studies.

Since 1991, AU has offered one of the nation’s only classes in gay and lesbian history. Eaklor, who teaches the course, says faculty and staff have been “very receptive” to it, resulting in the course being “repeatedly over-enrolled.”

Also in 1991, AU became the first university in the nation to bar academic credit for the Army's Reserve Officer Training Corps. AU gave the military program an ultimatum: stop discriminating against gays and lesbians or face tough restrictions at the University.

The Village of Alfred, which is located an hour south of Rochester in rural Allegany County, began providing anti-discrimination protections for its gay and lesbian residents in 1974, one of the first U.S. communities to do so.

Sebastian White is an alumnus of Alfred University.