Date: Mon, 21 Nov 1994 17:02:10 -0500 From: David B. O'Donnell To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Homophobe UWM Prof Scapegoats Gays and Lesbians [ Send all responses to Bob.Sillyheimer@MIXCOM.COM only. Any responses to the list or list-owners will be returned to you. ] HOMOPHOBE PROFESSOR SCAPEGOATS GAYS & LESBIANS A local homophobe at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is scapegoating gays for the failure of the university to approve a program he has proposed. In the past he has not only attacked gay/lesbian studies, but also African and Women's studies. The current attack is in the story immediately below. His first attack in in a story that follows, and finally, there is a letter-to-the-editor in which he sneers at the program. You are invited to forward your opinion to this person. Professor David D. Mulroy, Department of Classics and Hebrew Studies Curtin Hall, University of Wisconsin PO Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201 Voice (414) 229-4433 MILWAUKEE STORY of NOV 18, 1994 UWM nixes proposed program 'Great Books' shelved By JEFF COLE Sentinel staff writer [Milwaukee Sentinel, 11/18/94] The same committee that launched gay and lesbian studies at the University of Wisconsin -- Milwaukee has shelved a "Great Books" program incorporating works of Plato and Shakespeare. Those authors are too Western, the professor who proposed the program said he was told. The panel -- the College of Arts & Science's Course and Curriculum Committee -- voted last March to offer a certificate on gay and lesbian studies, said David D. Mulroy, an associate professor of the classics at UWM. Mulroy was one of 23 professors at UWM who proposed the "Great Books" program to the committee. Monday, the committee voted, 3-2, to reject the program. The committee chairman abstained. There are 12 members on the committee - nine faculty and three student members. The three students and three of the faculty members did not attend the meeting. None of the five professors who voted could be reached for comment Thursday. The problem with the proposed program was with the way its certificate program was structured, said Mark Schwartz, associate professor of geography and committee chairman. Schwartz cited three problems with the proposal: The format was unclear; there was no provision for a faculty advisory committee; and the program's title wasn't specific enough. "The program was called 'Great Books,'" Schwartz said. "But, most of the authors to be used were from Western culture. There was a feeling that if the name was changed to say something like 'Great Books of Western Culture,' it would have been better. "We have made such suggestions with other programs. For instance, a program that was brought to us earlier this year was entitled 'Human Sexuality.' When it became clear it was only concerned with gay and lesbian sexuality, we insisted that the name be changed." That course became the gay and lesbian studies program, which began this fall. UWM is one of a few schools in the nation, including Cornell University and City University of New York, to offer gay and lesbian studies. Schwartz said he hopes the "Great Books" program is brought back before the committee. Mulroy said he is mystified by Schwartz's statements, because paperwork for the proposed program was completed several weeks before the meeting. There was enough time to address those concerns before the vote, he said. The idea behind the program was to give students in the College of Arts & Sciences a chance to study the basic sources for their majors, Mulroy said. For example, a political science major might study the writings of Thomas Jefferson and John Locke, instead of just reading about them in a textbook, Mulroy said. The "Great Books" syllabus was only one part of the program, Mulroy added. In order to earn a certificate in "Great Books," a student would have been required to take courses in both intermediate math and a foreign language, and upper-level courses in either math or a foreign language. The reason most of the books that would have been required reading are Western in origin is because there is more source material on Western civilization, Mulroy said, He added that there never was any intention to limit the readings to Western authors. Certificate programs are interdisciplinary programs that usually require earning between 20 and 40 credits. ##30## [Original Milwaukee Sentinel story on the Gay and Lesbian Studies program] UWM Panel OKs gay studies program Supporter says move 'validates' existence of campus homosexuals by Dan Parks, Sentinel staff writer [Milwaukee Sentinel 02/23/94] The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee plans to start an undergraduate gay and lesbian studies program this fall. Only a handful of universities in the nation have a concentrated field of study on gay and lesbian issues, said Christopher Lane, who will be the coordinator of UWM's program. The program would award students a certificate after completing 18 credits, or the classes could be taken as electives, Lane said. A certificate is similar to getting a minor in a field of study, but requires fewer credits. The program was approved unanimously last week by the UWM Academic Program and Curriculum Committee. It still needs the approval of UWM Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs Kenneth L. Watters and the UW System administration in Madison. Watters said he may have some questions about the program's curriculum, but he is not opposed to the idea of a certificate program in gay and lesbian studies. The program could be created without action by the UW Board of Regents, Watters said. The program would start with an introductory course, Land said. More advanced courses would be added later. Lane, an assistant professor in the English and comparative Literature Department, said he expected little difficulty in winning final approval of the program. Lane also said he hopes there would be enough student interest to eventually expand the program into a major course of study. Lane said he knows of only two undergraduate gay studies programs in the country -- one at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., and the other at San Francisco State University. A few other universities have graduate programs, he said. UWM's program would be developed out of existing courses that deal with hay and lesbian issues, Lane said. "We're not simply inventing gay and lesbian studies out of thin air," he said. Lane said the program "also is symbolic in the sense that it validates the presence of gays on campus." That's the problem with the program, according to one outspoken critic on campus. David Mulroy, chairman of the UWM Classics Department, said the development of the program is a political power play by a special interest group. "I find it hard to believe that the hay angle on different subjects really adds up to an academic discipline," Mulroy said. "It is obviously based on the interests of a political interest group." The Afro-American Studies major and Women's Studies certificate programs are misguided for the same reasons, Mulroy said. "The slant of their courses is to bolster the self-esteem of their constituents," Mulroy said. "That's their problem.... Their objectivity is compromised." Mulroy said he is not suggesting gay and lesbian issues aren't important -- only that they do not constitute an academic discipline. Mulroy said he teaches the ancient Greek poetry of Sappho, a lesbian who addressed her love poems to other women, and her sexual orientation is clearly an important part of her story. "In the classics, for years before it was fashionable, we were teaching that it was not taboo in ancient Greece and Roe to be homosexual," Mulroy said. In some cases, the sexual orientation of classic authors and other historical figures "is as irrelevant as their hair color," Mulroy said. Mulroy said he was not surprised by the administrative and faculty support for the program. 'It's the affirmative action lobby," Mulroy said. "Women plus various minorities constitute a majority, and they wield tremendous power." ##30## [Homophobe's letter jeering at program] Morning Mail [Milwaukee Sentinel 03/16/94] Department of 'Gayology'? [To the editor:] Defenders of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's new certificate in Gay and Lesbian Studies have been pointing out that it is not a major and does not in theory pertain to a separate academic discipline. They say it should be compared instead to an area studies certificate. If you are interested in Scandinavia, for example, you can earn a certificate in Scandinavian studies, which involves courses in separate disciplines that touch on Scandinavia. The problem is that the Gay and Lesbian Studies Program is being pushed for highly political motives. To its founders, a certificate program is just a beachhead. Next will come a major and then a separate department. The scenario is not as farfetched as it sounds. UWM's Department of Afro-American studies is currently in the process of changing its name to the Department of "Africology." Accompanying literature describes Africology as a separate discipline, which is "prior to philosophy." Mark my words, "Gayology" is just around the corner. David Mulroy / Classics Department / University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee ##30##