I'm sad for my alma mater

This is tragically sad. A gay freshman at my alma mater, Ohio University, wanted to branch out after living in a single on campus and registered in a triple. Here's what happened:

Happily, I added the two as friends on Facebook and let them know who I am. The next day I received a message from one of them requesting that I find a different room because they had a friend they were hoping to get into the room. Not wanting to upset them, I told them that I didn’t mean to impose, that I couldn’t change rooms after I had already selected and that we ought to make the best of it.

The next day, as a sign of friendship, I offered to take them both to dinner so we might get to know one another before living together for a year. One of them e-mailed me back and insisted that I leave the room, to which I replied that I couldn’t and that if they wanted their friend in their room so badly they could have added him while they were registering.

That was when I found out their real motivation. “Listen, we do not have a friend moving in. We were just trying to be nice; we both just feel really uncomfortable living with a homosexual.” Now what am I to do? I can’t leave because I’m not allowed, and I can’t stay because I fear for my own safety.

I’ve been talking back and forth with them and they feel that I am obligated to leave because of their discomfort. I wonder if they realize mine — especially when I read their statuses on Facebook declaring X is a homophobe at 8:58 p.m., and X hates faggots at 9:21 p.m.

I wish the letter writer - someone with far more guts than his would-be roommates - would out the two worthless losers in question. They should be expelled immediately. They don't belong at Ohio University, it's that simple.

Welcome Shakers! Here is the letter I sent to my alma mater's paper, The Post, regarding this story. I'll paste the full text below the fold.

In recent years, my alma mater has given me far too little to be proud of. The latest black eye came when I read student Chris Uihlein's brave, yet terribly disappointing, letter in Tuesday's edition of The Post. For being secure in his identity as a gay man and for showing a willingness to reach out and become a more active member of the Ohio University community, he was rewarded with blatant homophobia that has no place at a university that likes to pride itself for its climate of diversity.

Suppose, for a moment, that Uihlein wasn't gay, but was an African American male who, upon signing up for a triple, began to hear excuse after excuse from his would-be roommates. What would we think if, after repeated efforts to build a rapport, the student was told, "We were just trying to be nice; we both just feel really uncomfortable living with a black person"? Or if their Facebook statuses stated that "X is a racist at 8:58 p.m." or that "X hates niggers at 9:21 p.m."?

We'd be rightly outraged, just as we should be - and many are - in this case. I'm sure the two students, in the above scenario, would face disciplinary action, just as one student did last June for his racially-motivated verbal attack on two women at Alden Library. That student was expelled and, upon hearing the news, President McDavis told The Post that "This is something we simply do not tolerate on our campus, now or ever."

What happened to Uihlein shouldn't be tolerated, either. And if my alma mater is so intent on fostering a climate of diversity, it must not back down in the ugly face of discrimination based on one's sexual orientation. Uihlein, it's clear, has far more courage and character than his would-be roommates, who deserve to be outed and punished for their disgraceful behavior. They don't belong at Ohio University.

Joseph Hughes
Ohio '01, '03