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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula Posted April 20, 2006  Updated April 25, 2006 Text © 2006 Paula McCambridge for Keweenaw Now.

Forum on anti-gay chalkings challenges MTU officials' leadership 

By Paula McCambridge

HOUGHTON -- Michigan Tech community members -- faculty, staff and students -- pushed facilitator rules beyond their limits Wednesday night, Apr. 19, as they expressed their opinions at a public forum created to discuss hate crimes that occurred on campus two weeks ago.

Three facilitators told the crowd of about 70 people that the forum would be a safe place for any comments attendees wanted to express. The facilitators then listed rules: there would be time limits; speakers would hold a microphone and “speaking stone”; and no speech would be allowed in the form of questions. That didn’t set well with some.

Tears flowed and voices rose as speakers shunned those rules in favor of taking their time to speak in both questions and statements about the chalked hate messages targeting Michigan Tech’s GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender) community that were scrawled on sidewalks across the university April 7.

“I am completely opposed to there being a time limit on this, so I will take my time,” one student said as he listed his concerns. “There has been an incredible lack of communication by the university…what happened this past week is nothing new,” and for the administration to have said nothing, “not a word, that’s wrong…that needs to be addressed.”

Early this week Michigan Tech students attempted to counter the anti-gay chalkings by writing positive messages in chalk on campus sidewalks. "Students were making efforts to show that (the anti-gay messages) wouldn't be tolerated," said Shannon Healy. This cheerful drawing bears the message of a popular Reggae tune: "Don't Worry, Be Happy." The new messages included love, tolerance, inspirational quotes and positive events, such as, "I turned in my thesis and got a new bike ..." (Photo © 2006 and courtesy Shannon Healy. Reprinted with permission.)

Others expressed sympathy toward university administrators who, they said, “may have been blindsided” by the event.

Michigan Tech Vice President of Student Affairs Les Cook said, “We very intentionally tried to [keep the campus safe].”

Still others emphasized what they described as a lack of action from the school’s leadership concerning minority issues in general.

“We cannot have diversity until we define what diversity is,” said one student. “There is nothing diverse about Michigan Tech. You cannot educate what you do not know.”

One student read from a letter Keweenaw Pride wrote to Michigan Tech President Glenn Mroz and then presented a hardcopy of the letter directly to Mroz, who stood and accepted it with a handshake.

In the letter, Keweenaw Pride offered possible solutions to Michigan Tech’s lack of diversity sensitivity, including the request that “as part of freshman orientation, a guarantee is issued that any language or behavior that threatens the safety of identifiable groups on campus…is grounds for expulsion and possible legal action.”

Mroz wound up the evening’s discussion with a statement of his own, saying that the crime was possibly a “push-back crime” because of his work making diversity a top issue on campus. “I think when you return to Michigan Tech in the fall, you’ll see a different place…but it’s not going to be like lighting a candle, and suddenly there’s light.”

The forum, which lasted more than two hours, was preceded by community action that started with a gathering of about 50 people who met in an administration-building parking lot to walk, in unison, to the forum by way of College Avenue to bring visibility to the issue.

Notes from Wednesday's forum will be available in Dean of Students Gloria Melton's office in the Michigan Tech Administration Building. Students and the public have been asked to contact MTU Public Safety at 487-2216 with any information on who might have done these chalkings. Public Safety is conducting a full investigation of the incident. A reward is being offered for information.

Editor's notes: Guest writer Paula McCambridge is an experienced journalist who has reported for newspapers in Michigan and California. She is also a full-time student at Michigan Technological University, where she is studying communication and culture studies, psychology and art. She also writes for the MTU Lode. See also Anna Cynar's Letter to the Editor, "Scrubbing Chalk ...," posted on Keweenaw Now April 11, 2006.