In the words of William Poarch, ’82, “Gay life did not exist on campus while I was there. People just didn’t talk about it. The Richmond campus just didn’t live dangerously or advocate for any kind of diversity. The only real gay presence was graphic graffiti written on men’s rooms walls.
“While I knew in high school that I was ‘something’, I didn’t know what. I dated girls in high school but came to college and realized I wasn’t going to play those games, so I just didn’t date. I remember waking up one morning and looking at the whiteboard on my dorm door, and someone had written, ‘Are you gay?’ I was very taken aback. It was the first time it was even questioned, and it felt uncomfortable and accusatory. I was raised in a southern Baptist household and being gay was not a good thing; I didn’t want to go to hell. My perception as a kid was that there were people we weren’t supposed to be around, the implication was that those people were child molesters. I never went to a gay bar during college—we didn’t venture into the city much. The city was somewhere Richmond students didn’t go. The word ‘queer’ was used as an insult while I was a student, but since I didn’t identify myself as queer/gay at the time I don’t think it ever really registered.”
Furthering isolating LGBTQ students was the continuation of the highly heteronormative environment in which friendships with the opposite sex were rare. According to Collegian reporting in 1986, often-stated complaints about the University included: “The social life is dismal. Friendship between guys and girls is missing. The fraternities are meat markets. It is is a male-dominated school. Separated campuses are unnatural. Chief concerns are the division-by-sex of campuses, the absence of casual meeting places for males and females, and the lack of social alternatives to the fraternities.”
As evidenced by reports in The Collegian, professors at the time raised concern about the affect the gender-divided atmosphere had on students. Tom Bonfiglio, a professor, stated, “The disease is a lack of intellectual curiosity, apathy, and a party atmosphere.” A trend in female transfers in the late-’80s proved troubling; Janet Kotler, a professor, stated, “We [the faculty] are all concerned when the more interesting of our students say that they want to leave.”
A Richmond College first-year student complained to The Collegian in Feb. 1986: “Even on weekends you can’t always go to the girls’ side because of visitation. And the Commons closes at 9 or 10. The seclusion of the campuses is part of it; you can’t be friends with girls. You can’t have impromptu discussions with them…you’re not even allowed to go into (two floors of Lora Robins) after eight at night.”
Later discussion and debate concerned the role of Greek Life on campus and agitated for co-ed housing. On Mar. 6, 1986, a Collegian editorial stated that, “It is frequently heard that without the fraternities, the University would have no social life. If this is true, then we are in sad shape. This university is becoming monopolized by fraternities and something needs to be done about it.”
Discussions over social life, often played out in The Collegian or several university forums throughout the decade, placed gender issues at the core of the problem. The presence of a partying culture and the inability for men and women to interact outside of fraternity spaces filled with alcohol consumption harmed both the men and women’s friendships, as well as made the University an isolating space for LGBTQ individuals.