Rutgers bullying brings light to minority acceptance

By Monica Kreber

kreberm@thejohnsonian.com

Graphic by Courtney Niskala • niskalac@thejohnsonian.comOn Sept. 22, 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi leapt to his death from the George Washington Bridge in Piscataway Township, N.J. Clementi took his own life after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, allegedly video-streamed Clementi’s sexual encounter with another man over the Internet without Clementi’s consent.

Ravi is one of two Rutgers students facing charges of invasion of privacy. Meanwhile, the story has shed light on the acceptance of minority students at other schools in the nation.

At Winthrop, students of different sexual orientations find ways to express themselves through GLoBAL (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Allies). GloBAL’s president, senior physical education major Rachel Wyka, said she finds Winthrop to be “very accepting” of students of different sexual orientations and lesser-known religions.

Wyka pointed out during the Evanglist’s protest on Oct. 13 many students stood up to the group of people who came to speak out against people of different religions, sexual orientation and culture.

“They were saying blacks are going to hell, other sexual orientations are going to hell, and everyone was like, ‘Get off my campus,’” Wyka said. “Nobody stood for it here. So, especially since we’re a liberal arts college, I think we’re very against all that hatred.”

Wyka said as awful as it was to hear about Clementi taking his own life after his sexual encounter was broadcasted on the Internet, she is glad the incident has been in the media because it brings attention to the idea of homosexual discrimination.

“It’s sad that is has taken until 2010 for America to wake up and realize it’s happening in our schools,” she said.

Wyka said she thinks harassment is something that needs to be talked about because it can happen in any residence hall at any school, including Winthrop.

“It’s happened here in the years passed where students have gotten harassed to the point where they can’t live in the same residence hall has (their roommates) anymore,” she said. “I don’t know if anyone has committed suicide because of it but there’s always harassment.”

Global works with students of any orientation, including straight students (who are called Allies) to get to know each other better and talk about goings-on within the community. Wyka said the group has an “ask, don’t tell” policy where students are not asked straight-forward if they are homosexual or not because some students are still trying to figure it out for themselves.

While she has not faced harassment since being at Winthrop, Wyka said not all students are comfortable with coming out about their sexual orientation yet, and that puts them at a higher risk of depression.

“I know some people who are seniors in college who are not comfortable with coming out,” she said, “and those are the most at risk for suicide because they are not comfortable with themselves yet and not ready for other people to know.”

In correspondence with homosexuals, Wyka also thinks some students of lesser-known religions have had to face some sort of discrimination because other people are ignorant of their religion.

“I think that is the main cause of hate,” she said. “Nowadays people are afraid of the unknown so they just hate it.”

One thing Global does in order to help homosexual students is train Winthrop faculty and staff to become “safe zone” members. If a staff member is part of Safe Zone, that means they have been trained to help counsel homosexual students who are facing discrimination and harassment.

Junior interior design major Taylor Purser, who is a member of Global, said he feels about 90 percent of Winthrop’s professors is within the Safe Zone.

“If we had a suicide like (Clementi’s) here on this campus, it would not be because nobody tried to help them,” Purser said, “it would be because they were so out of touch with what happened.”

Purser said Safe Zone professors are indicated by stickers they put out on their office doors.

“You could walk into any building, on any floor, and you would see the stickers,” Purser said. “And actually there are a bunch of professors that have had gay students come and talk about how they wanted to commit suicide because people were harassing them about being gay.”

Purser said he thinks that since there are so many Safe Zone professors that there really would not be any excuse for any homosexual student to not receive help.

“If someone really did commit suicide it would be a real tragedy because there are so many outlets for people who are gay to talk about it and feel better about it,” he said.

Assistant professor to sociology and anthropology Kelly James, who is the advisor for Global, said Student Life at Winthrop is interested in providing programming and support for minorities, and knows there are professors who try to incorporate those issues in their classes.

However, James said she also thinks some of Winthrop’s minority groups are so tiny that they do not feel like they are being addressed.

“I think there are faculty and staff willing to help anyone who is dealing with diversity issues,” she said. “Do I think everybody gets heard and dealt with? No, of course not; we’re an imperfect system. And I think there are some conservative Christians that feel left out because the more education you get, the more liberal you get, so we have a fair number of non-conservative people.”

        Being advisor for Global, James said the hardest part of being part of the organization is the fact that so many of the students with different sexual orientations have struggled with family relationships.

“We’ve had suicide attempts, we’ve had suicide threats, and so it’s real and it happens here,” she said. “And it’s not that straight people don’t have issues – they do – it’s just the number for gays is so much higher.”

James thinks the conduciveness at Winthrop is getting better, but it is not great. She said while Global has the Safe Zone members, there are not a lot of professors from different racial backgrounds that could be beneficial to students of lesser-known religions.

“I think if I were a Muslim student and I was looking for a professor who understood what I went through…I think that would be harder,” she said. “So, I don’t know if we are adequate.”

As for what happened with Clementi, James said she feels when students are in that moment of hopelessness, they cannot see that support will be there.

“We try to help students who are struggling, but their bonds to their families are the most significant ones they have,” she said, “and when they feel like their families can’t accept them, it’s a really traumatic experience.”