By ROB PELKEY
Online Editor
 

The demands outlined in the contract include mandatory sensitivity training for all Bates students, faculty and staff, annual provision of funds to bring renowned speakers to campus on Coming Out Weekend, recogniton of queer students and alumni in Alumni and Admissions reports, and the institution of a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender studies curriculum at Bates.

The coalition initially presented the contract to the deans at an open forum on the evening of Thurs., Oct. 23 (see related story).

Although the deans stated that they supported the formation of a committee and agreed that steps like those outlined in the contract should be taken to combat homophobia at Bates, they refused to sign the agreement, asking for more time to review it.

As a result, the deans and coalition leaders planned a negotiation session for 8:00 a.m. on Friday. At this time, the Deans, the President, other administrators, and coalition members met for more than four hours to debate the details of the proposed agreement.

Biding time for a cause, students and supporters sit in
While the administrators and coalition members met in the first floor lounge of Lane Hall, nearly 100 students rallied in the hallway outside, showing their support of the student coalition. Leaders of the coalition called upon students to stage a sit-in at the previous night's open forum, and announced the sit-in in flyers that they posted throughout campus later in the evening.

The demonstration, which began at 9:00 a.m., was quiet at first, with students either studying or talking among themselves. By 9:45 a.m., the students began drumming and chanting slogans, maintaining a sometimes ear-splitting volume that did not subside until the Deans came before the crowd at 12:45 p.m. to sign the contract. Slogans chanted by the crowd included "Bates will not be homophobic," "don't deny, diversify," "queer studies now," and "sign the fuckin' contract!"

No attempt was made to break up the demonstration, although a small group of administrators, including Director of Affirmative Action Joanna Lee, Director of College Relations Patti Lawson, and Associate Director of Security Sherri Brooks, stood by and kept a close watch over the events. Employees of the business office on the first floor, frustrated by the noise level, elected to close the office until the demonstration subsided. The registrar's office across the hall, however, remained open as usual. Disruption to normal activity on other floors of the building was minimal.

Students at the sit-in ran the gamut from committed, vocal activists to more passive supporters.

Jason Lord '98, by his own admission "not a real active shouter," had several friends who were "very hurt" by events surrounding Coming Out Weekend, and felt that by just sitting and taking part of the event, he was fulfilling his duty to them. "I graduate in December... I hope in the next couple of months this campus can really start to come together and people can understand that ... people are having their rights deprived," he said. "I don't want to sound cheesy, but people need to understand that we're all equal, we're all sitting in the same tent."

"I did not realize the extent of the homophobia that ran through Bates," said Katy Mills '00. "A friend invited me to go to the forum [the previous night] with her... where I really realized the full extent of the problem Bates has with homophobia. That prompted me to come to this event."

Many demonstrators, faced with important assignments or lectures, left the sit-in to attend classes, only to return later. Others skipped class all together, considering the issues at stake to be of greater importance.

"Even if you have a test, even if you have a midterm, you have to face the fact that what we're doing is even more important than all of those things considered," said John Connors '99.

It's all about compromise -- kind of
The negotiation sessions involved the deans of students, Dean of the Faculty Martha Crunkleton, Director of Multicultural Affairs Czerny Brasuell, Associate Professors Erica Rand and Charles Nero, and student coalition members including Rachel Simons '99, Carrie Delmore '00, Arthur Stamoulis '98, Juan Echazaretta '99, Meg MacDougal `00, Renee Leduc '98, Bryan Loveland '98, Evette Rios '98 and Brinda Tahiliani '98.

President Harward was not part of the negotiating group when the talks began, but was briefed on the situation at 7:00 a.m. by Dean of Students F. Celeste Branham. After attending to a prior commitment that morning, he entered for later portions of the negotiations at about 10:30 a.m. When he made his way through the demonstrators to the negotiating room, scattered cheers and applause could be heard above the continued drumming and chanting.

Discussion in the tense negotiation sessions revolved around language that could be construed as binding the deans to implement programs and policies that are outside their jurisdiction.

With regard to a queer studies curriculum, at issue was "whether it was within our province as a Dean of Students office to promote the hiring of faculty for any curriculum, not just a gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender studies curriculum," Branham said. Generally, faculty hiring decisions do not go through the dean of students office.

Also, with regard to the recognition of queer alumni and students in alumni and admissions activities, "it semed as if we were upon our lateral colleagues in the Admissions and Alumni Offices a plan of action," Branham said. As such, language in the contract was changed so that the deans would "urge strongly" that the coalition's demands be implemented.

Coalition members periodically emerged from the talks to update and offer encouragement to the demonstrators. "You guys are putting insane pressure [on the administrators], and that's good," said Simons during one break in the talks.

Dean Branham said she wasn't affected by the noisy demonstration directly outside the negotiating room: "I didn't feel that pressure ... We had committed the night before to the process of negotiation. The sit-in was peripheral to that commitment. I just put it aside and kept to the task of negotiation." Nonetheless, other administrators present found carrying out the talks above the din of the demonstration stressful.

Negotiations adjourned briefly at about 11:30 p.m., so that new copies of the contract incorporating the agreed-upon changes could be typed and printed. Once the modified contracts were printed, Evette Rios '98, a member of the coalition, read the contract to the assembled demonstrators and solicited feedback. Overall, the contract was well-received, with only minor suggestions made regarding the implementation of sensitivity training.

Decisions made, contract signed -- now what?
After meeting together to review the modified contract, the parties to the negotiations, including the deans of students, Crunkleton, Brasuell, and the coalition members, came forward at 12:45 p.m. to sign the contract before the cheering and drumming of the assembled demonstrators.

Coalition members then dismissed the crowd, calling upon their supporters to remain ineterested and active. "This has been a really, really long process, but it's not over. People need to stay hyped, the energy needs to stay high," said Simons. Within minutes, the nearly 100 demonstrators filtered out of the building peacefully.

The next step for the coalition will be to lobby the faculty to institute a queer studies program. "[T]he faculty are the ones who don't show up for forum s, aren't in this room, aren't here... There are a lot of super-conservative faculty, and they are the ones [whose votes] we need," said one unidentifiable member of the coaltion.

One possible goal would be to have the faculty adopt an agreement similar to the contract signed by the deans, which advocating a queer studies program, hiring of a new faculty member, and the other objectives of the coalition. The issues are tentatively scheuled for consideration at the December faculty meeting.

Now that the contract is signed, the coalition must maintain student interest and momentum regarding queer issues at Bates. "Right now is a very dangerous time at Bates College," Connors said. "There's the fear that this won't continue. And if it doesn't, that means the death of this issue."