Professor reports homophobic vandalism (Photo by Jessica Savage, The Daily Campus)
When Spanish professor George Henson arrived at his office at 8:30 Monday morning, nothing seemed out of the ordinary until a colleague across the hallway noticed something on his door.
Someone had written the word “faggot” across the top of the Allies sticker Henson had taped to the outside of his office door.
Allies is a group on campus formed by community members to provide visible and tangible support for gay, lesbian bisexual, transgender and questioning members of the campus community, according to its Web site.
The window badges, posted by members of the community who have completed Allies training, designate the area as a “safe place” – a place where students can feel comfortable talking to faculty or staff.
Dr. Courtney Aberle, who oversees the Women’s Center and Allies on campus, was appalled when she heard the news.
“Of course we are horrified when there’s any sort of negative interaction towards anyone on campus,” she said.
Aberle, who has been at SMU for five years, said she has never dealt with an issue like this before. Her main concern is for “members of the SMU community to feel safe on campus.”
Henson, who has been openly gay for 20 years, was not bothered by the word. What bothered him was the placement of the word and the message it sends to students.
“It’s unacceptable on a college campus. It’s sending not only a message to me, but to every student across this campus – that they can’t trust whom they come out to,” Henson said, adding that incidents like these can stifle awareness if they are not handled in a way that facilitates open discussion within the campus community.
“If there is no public forum for the university to discuss, then it’s my responsibility,” he said. “I have to stand up for what I believe in.”
Henson notified the police, who filed a report and encouraged him to contact other university officials.
Henson, who contributes a regular column to The Daily Campus’ opinion page that is often critical of President George W. Bush’s administration, said he thinks the vandalism is a response to the piece he wrote in Friday’s paper.
“If this was the work of a Bush supporter who was upset by my criticism of the Bush administration,” Henson said, “It doesn’t surprise me that this would be their response. This is a perfect example of the tactics that Bush and his supporters have always used against their critics.”
In a statement released from the Office of Public Affairs, “SMU expects members of its campus community to respect the rights and dignity of others. Any words or acts designed to intimidate, degrade, demean or threaten will not be tolerated. University policy also states SMU’s commitment to nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Working with SMU Police, SMU will attempt to identify the person responsible for this action, and that individual will be subject to disciplinary proceedings.”
Training for people with lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender issues will be held at the Women’s Center on April 12 for students and on April 13 for faculty.
