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Part 3 of 3
Bob Barrett was a UNC Charlotte student in the 1970s, but it would be several years later as a counseling and special education professor before he would come out of the closet.
Barrett left the University in 1989 to conduct research and when he returned in 1991, he had a request to meet with students from a gay organization that had grown from the University Counseling Center.
He was surprised at the response he received when he asked them what they wanted from him. The students confessed to the professor that they could not be open about their sexuality on campus unless faculty were out too.
“We just can’t do it by ourselves,” Barrett remembered them pleading.
Following the meeting, Barrett came out to his superiors, suggesting he would help students whenever gay issues arose.
Barrett’s commitment to supporting gay and lesbian issues was cemented in spring 1993 when he posted an item in the faculty newsletter announcing a meeting for gay, lesbian and bisexual staff to meet at his house.
It was the first time a public notice was put out for gay and lesbian staff members at UNCC.
The handful of openly gay and lesbian faculty and staff would meet for two or three years. It even expanded to include faculty from Queens University of Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith and Winthrop universities.
“We really didn’t have much of a purpose for meeting other than to talk about our experiences,” said Barrett. “It gradually faded away, but more faculty came out as a result of that and began to identify themselves.”
Barrett became an advocate for GLBT issues in the early 1990s after writing a letter to The Charlotte Observer requesting to bring a group of faculty to talk to editors about gay and lesbian people in Charlotte.
That meeting to improve coverage of GLBT issues spawned into an interview for a story. Barrett found himself the subject of an article, thus coming out to the entire Charlotte community.
Despite becoming a public figure in Charlotte, Barrett admits he was more worried about coming out to the University community.
“Putting that in the “green sheet” [campus newsletter] was sort of a nervous moment, because that had never happened before, and I didn’t know quite what to expect,” he said.
One administrator warned Barrett to be careful.
“Some people are just waiting for you to stumble, and if you stumble, you’re in trouble,” he remembers being told. “I knew the risks I was taking, but I believed in this institution and felt that I would be supported. And by and large, I have been.”
The 1980s saw a return of covert, silent action on the part of gay students. Most of what was created in terms of gay and allied student organizations seem to crumble as fast as they were built.
Strides in gay acceptance at UNCC were not as apparent compared to the previous decade.
GLBT issues were not at the forefront of campus culture until the national issue of gays in the military trickled into higher education circles.
In December of 1989, The University of Madison-Wisconsin made national news as their faculty voted in favor of a motion to remove their ROTC program until it revised its discriminatory policy against gay students, thus giving UNCC faculty a similar model to follow.
The Air Force ROTC was seeking departmental status in 1990, much to the disapproval of several UNCC faculty.
On the application for acceptance to the program students were asked “Have you ever been, or are currently homosexual or bisexual?” and “Have you ever engaged in, or do you desire to, or intend to engage in a homosexual act or acts?”
Stan Patten, an English professor and director of the Writing Resource Center at the time, wrote a letter to Chancellor James Woodward saying the ROTC discriminated against gay students and therefore should not become a department.
“There was some movement not just gay people, but by other faculty too that we’re uncomfortable with this military presence being in our college,” said Barrett.
University Times opinion writer Jerry Saviano kept students aware of the developing chain of events in a series of articles attacking the ROTC program for its discriminatory policy of ousting openly gay students. Saviano reported in a March 29, 1990 article that ROTC Commander Captain Lamb told those present at an open meeting that if the ROTC wasn’t awarded departmental status, the Defense Department could pull the program off campus. That was fine with Saviano, who described Lamb’s comments in his article as “thinly veiled blackmail.”
Not only did Saviano not favor the program for its ouster of open homosexuals, but he did not feel as if the program was an academic discipline, a sentiment echoed by the newspaper’s editorial board in the following weeks.
“Though studying the various ways to kill the largest numbers of people in the most efficient manner might be necessary for the defense department’s overblown budget, to suggest military science belongs with the humanities, the arts and the natural sciences as a worthy academic pursuit is an Orwellian absurdity,” wrote Saviano.
The same day of Saviano’s column appeared in The University Times, Woodward listened to the faculty council’s concerns about the program at their monthly meeting.
Woodward told the faculty he would put aside his personal views and expressed his intentions on elevating the program to departmental status. He said he would write a letter protesting the ROTC’s discriminatory policy.
Saviano was outraged by Woodward’s stance on the issue, calling it “wishy-washy” in the April 5, 1990 issue of The University Times.
“Completely keeping with the sorry precedent set by recent leaders, Chancellor Woodward will mouth a few pathetic words of dissent, then probably capitulate completely to what those who have the proper names on their Rolodex demand,” wrote Saviano. “Chancellor, if you believe that ROTC’s policies are wrong, then ban them until they are changed. But if you think their discrimination against homosexuals is not offensive to the principles an educational institution should commit itself to, then say so. Make it clear.”
Saviano’s two editorials prompted two letters to the editor with opposing views, including one from Colonel Robert Bunnell of the aerospace studies department.
Bunnell provided insight into the importance of the Air Force ROTC becoming an academic department. He said the courses dealt with military history, leadership, communication and ethics to improve civilian leadership.
“To understand why the ROTC program is on campus, one has to realize why it was created,” wrote Bunnell. “America’s military has always been under civilian leadership and as such must always remain sensitive to this control.”
He said that UNCC would lose marketability to students seeking such careers, when the program was offered at 600 universities at the time.
“Banning ROTC for following these policies doesn’t change the law; writing your Congressional representative is the best way to change policy,” wrote Bunnell to close his letter.
On July 1, 1990, the Air Force ROTC officially became a department but faculty persisted with their complaints well into 1991.
The issue of getting the Air Force ROTC to reverse its policies, though hard-fought, failed. The ROTC still remains a fixture on campus.
Despite heavy rumblings from the faculty, students were not as vocal on the issue. Student Body President Beth Hammon told The University Times she disagreed with the ROTC’s discriminatory policies, but said the issue didn’t spark interest amongst the Student Legislature.
Saviano wondered why students did not jump at the chance to voice concern in his editorials.
“Why has this issue not been discussed on a large scale by the student body?” asked Saviano. “It is further testament to the numbing of America’s conscious that a university, of all places, would so calculatedly ignore travesties such as these in their own front yard.”
During the ROTC debate, Woodward enlisted in university attorney William Steimer to create an addendum that would blanket gays in the non-discriminatory act. At that time there was no mention of sexual orientation to the university’s policy. In fact, few universities in the nation included sexual orientation to such policies.
On Jan. 17, 1991, the faculty council endorsed the measure and it was issued into university policy by Woodward. It wasn’t until 1992 that the UNC system directed chancellors to add sexual orientation to non-discrimination policies.
Woodward said the addition of sexual orientation to UNCC’s policy made a symbolic impact on students and faculty.
“There was some opposition but in my view, this was fairly minor,” he said. “It is a fundamental importance that any university, that certainly includes UNC Charlotte, provides a supportive involvement regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and so forth that achievements on campus should be limited only by that person’s talents and their willingness to fully utilize those talents.”
While UNCC was on the forefront of non-discrimination policies, some faculty members feel as if the clause has no weight.
“It is sort of heartwarming but it doesn’t actually have any teeth because actually I can’t get my partner on my health insurance and I can’t get a full range of benefits for my partner that a married partner could,” said Bill Cody. “There isn’t equity even though there’s a written policy that says we will not discriminate, but the discrimination is written into the law in the state. And the university can’t transcend that.”
Cody’s partner is living with HIV. If he were to become sick, Cody would not be able to take care of him, despite strides made by faculty in the late 1990s. He would not be covered under the Family Medical Leave Act to have paid work leave.
In 1997, the Faculty Assembly for the 16 campuses of the UNC system passed a resolution to extend campus-based benefits to domestic partners of university employees.
Since that resolution, faculty talked about proposing state legislation that would allow for them to receive partner benefits by the state that extend past the campus.
The University Times championed the cause in a December 1997 staff editorial, saying such a move would make a bold statement.
“UNC Charlotte would insure diversity on our campus,” stated the editorial. “Correcting these differences is not only morally and ethically viable, but would benefit the entire academic community. It’s time to erase the contradiction and adopt a new stance to reflect our university.”
As faculty members were beginning to feel resentment toward having campus-based benefits but none offered by the state, the PRIDE student group stalled.
“Shane Windemeyer and I had been approached separately by students requesting more campus support about how to connect more GLBT students with each other and faculty and staff mentors,” said Rebecca McNair Semands, a counselor at UNCC’s Counseling Center.
Windemeyer and Semands shared with each other their experiences dealing with isolated students on campus and wanted to provide these students help. They organized a lunch meeting in June 1999 for faculty in the academic and student affairs divisions.
A group of eight gay, lesbian, bisexual and allied faculty and staff met to explore how UNCC could better support LGBT students and employees. The group became the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Concerns Committee.
“It became clear from that meeting that not only was there a desire to explore student requests for connection and support around GLBT issues but also that new faculty and staff were requesting non-visible signs of how our non-discrimination policy supports gay faculty and staff,” said Semands. “Some of the new faculty and staff said it wasn’t until they had seen some of our fliers for our student groups and for the PRIDE student group that they were sure this was an accepting community. They wanted more.”
The committee had an open call for their next meeting and saw membership jump to 29 faculty and staff. Within a month of an Internet listserv being created there were over 30 members assembled by word of mouth.
The committee met every couple of months to talk about the campus climate and generate ideas to further support GLBT students, faculty and staff.
From the efforts of the GLBT Concerns Committee spawned a number of programs still in use today.
A domestic partner benefits package was approved which includes access to fitness facilities, Atkins Library and academic services for partners. The Safe Zone Program, which students, faculty and staff were trained to be accepting of GLBT issues, trained well over 250 people. Those who went through the program affixed Safe Zone stickers in their offices. An anti-harassment team was started through the dean of students office. And PRIDE received faculty support.
A couple of students were interested in starting PRIDE back up asked Regina Young Hyatt, current CAB advisor, to become the group’s advisor, which she accepted along with the help of Student Media advisor Wayne Maikranz in 1999.
The opening of the Multicultural Resource Center in 2000 provided another safe haven for gay and lesbian members of the UNCC community. The concept of the center came four years prior when a campus-wide unity week saw a successful turnout.
“We realized we needed a place where students can get help to program across all cultures,” said director Gerald Spates.
The office provides service to not only different ethnicities and cultures, but also caters to GLBT issues.
Within the Multicultural Center’s umbrella is a half-time faculty position that provides advising now for PRIDE. Graduate students fill this role as part of work in the Mulitcultural Center.
Around the opening of the Multicultural Center, Gerald Lang began efforts to mount a Stop the Hate campaign. Winning a national essay contest allowed Lang to become a facilitator to the program which he was required to lead six activities upon returning to UNCC’s campus. Lang gathered 30 volunteers and led over 40 activities in his first year that educate the University community on the effects of hate crimes.
He said hate crimes are not merely a black-and-white issue, but also extend toward religion and sexual orientation.
While many strides were made through the student affairs division of the University, academic affairs also brought awareness to homosexuality through a number of classes.
Elise Fullmer was the first professor to offer a course in homosexuality in the mid-1990s and others have followed suit. Courses have ranged from Barrett’s course in dealing with homosexual clients in clinical practice to a gay and lesbian literature class taught by creative writing professor Christopher Davis.
Deana Morrow, a social work professor who teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses on working with gay and lesbian clients, said she always asks how students felt buying the textbooks for the course.
“It helps sensitize them a little bit to the notion ‘yea I wondered if people were going to think I was gay or lesbian’,” said Morrow.
With increased faculty and staff support, PRIDE has flourished, participating in a number of public University activities that the group’s predecessors could never do, including student organizational resource fairs, Homecoming and the Day of Silence, a visual demonstration at the Belk Tower.
Perhaps the landmark event in PRIDE’s resurgence was the Judy Shepard program in April 2001. The mother of slain gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard addressed a crowd of over 600 people in McKnight Hall.
“To me that’s the most pivotal moment I’ve seen in really having a campus climate that says we are open and we are receptive,” said Morrow. “Historically, I think that will be looked back on as one of the turning points in terms of the open inclusion of all people regardless of sexual orientation on this campus.”
Talk generated from the current news of the day points that the society in which UNCC exists has yet to find a turning point to where people are accepting of gay and lesbian people.
To the blatantly split issue of the legalization of gay marriage to Diane Sawyer asking UNCC alum Clay Aiken on national TV if he is gay, society has not yet reached that point.
In an staff editorial, the editorial board of The University Times labeled the University environment much more progressive than the city of Charlotte.
“The Charlotte area is incredibly conservative and holds a general sense of dislike for the homosexual community, but UNCC has proven to be a safe haven for those who suffer from discrimination because of their sexuality,” writes the board in the Nov. 3, 2003 issue.
Still many faculty members who have lived during the gay movement believe the evolution of gay acceptance at UNCC is not where it should be.
Barrett believes the administration has done a great job sending the message that gay and lesbian people will be accepted on campus, but the atmosphere could still improve.
“There are pockets of acceptance but by large there is sort of an indifference,” said Barrett. “The unfortunate piece is that a lot of the gay and lesbian students who do have leadership skills don’t come out until they graduate. I meet many people in the community who didn’t come out until they graduated from here, and they could have made a huge difference on this campus.”
Still, most questioned believe more people are coming out earlier in their lives.
“I think there was a time even as late as five years ago there were probably students who had never met a gay person in their life,” said Hyatt. “I think more and more people are coming out earlier and more people who identify as gay are out.”
Spates said gay acceptance should be broadened to acceptance of diversity.
“We have to make sure that it’s not just a gay thing or a black thing, it’s all of us and becoming more aware of different cultures,” he said. “If you value who you are, don’t be afraid to share.”
