One year following “The Laramie Project” incident, in which the play was disrupted by students using derogatory slurs, some Ole Miss students, faculty, staff and alumni say they are disappointed that more has not been done to include LGBTQ students on campus.
“I was incredibly offended and shocked that it happened,” said Ian Whalen, senior history major from St. Louis, Missouri. “It, for the first time, made me incredibly uncomfortable about being gay and living an openly gay life.”
Whalen decided to come out completely to his family and friends as a sophomore in college.
Whalen said the incident jumpstarted his involvement on campus. He now serves as co-president for the UM Pride Network.
According to Whalen, by becoming more active on campus he realized that inequality is still prevalent. The most noticeable aspects of the inequality are the lack of partner benefits and lack of genuine social acceptance.
Neither federal nor state laws protect LGBTQ individuals against workplace discrimination, but at The University of Mississippi, a discrimination policy is in place that does not allow discrimination of employees that identify as LGBTQ.
Jaime Cantrell, a visiting assistant professor of English, said she would not go so far as to say the university is a welcoming place, although she feels it is not wholly unfriendly either.
“Ole Miss offers LGBTQ-specific courses in various academic departments, including a new emphasis in sexuality studies through the Sarah Isom Center,” Cantrell said. “On an administrative level, Ole Miss protects the interest of students, staff and faculty through the LGBTQ Chancellor’s Advisory Committee, Safe Zone training and UM Pride Network.”
Cantrell said she would like to see Ole Miss offer health insurance coverage to employees’ same-sex partners and more gender neutral/single occupancy restrooms in buildings across campus. She said the human resources office at Ole Miss confirmed they do not offer those health benefits to employees because the university health insurance is the state’s plan.
“There is a lot that could be done, and a lot that should be done; I want to help bridge that gap,” Cantrell said.
Garrison Gibbons, a senior theater major from Brandon, said “The Laramie Project” incident was monumental for Ole Miss.
“LGBTQ issues were not talked about or ‘taboo’ on campus before the incident, especially my freshman and sophomore year,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons said the incident started a dialogue and made LGBTQ history month, October, a much bigger event on campus than what it originally would’ve been.
Jennifer Stollman, academic director for the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation and an ally for LGBTQ students, said the university is taking steps to include LGBTQ students on campus.
“First and foremost, there is the chancellor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee, housing and student affairs have been taking steps to train themselves on LGBTQ issues, so I think there is some movement,” Stollman said.
The Chancellor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee is led by Chancellor Dan Jones and has the responsibility to advise university leaders on policies and initiatives that all students, faculty and staff on campus, who identify as LGBTQ, are treated justly and fairly and feel safe, supported respected and valued.
The advisory committee meets once a month to work on policies benefitting the LGBTQ community at Ole Miss, according to Camp Best, chair of the Chancellor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee and university counselor.
“The Laramie Project” incident reached much farther than the faculty, staff and students. Ole Miss alumnus Barrett Beard said he wasn’t happy.
“I hated it, but I’m not surprised,” said Beard, who graduated in 2008 and now lives in New York City.
There were times on campus while Beard was at Ole Miss that made it very clear homosexuality was not acceptable. Beard recalled individuals being verbally attacked and said he decided to never come out at Ole Miss after seeing those incidents.
“I was a happy person and wanted to focus my energy on my future success and serving my school,” Beard said.
The University of Mississippi has taken the steps to include LGBTQ alumni in their plan to diversify and include LGBTQ students. The Ole Miss Alumni Association created an LGBTQ alumni branch in April.
Tim Walsh, executive director of alumni affairs, said he never wanted to have separate alumni branches because he felt as if they would work better as one.
“Our main goal was to make the LGBTQ community feel more welcome than they do,” Walsh said.
Walsh said the LGBTQ alumni branch has four main goals they hope to meet. They hope to provide mentoring to current and prospective LGBTQ students, recruit LGBTQ students and allow them to see that they are wanted and safe at Ole Miss, establish a scholarship for LGBTQ students and make the LGBTQ community more sociable.
Beard, Cantrell, Whalen and Gibbons all agreed Ole Miss has made progress since the incident, but still has a long way to go.
