COURTNEE CESTA
Managing Editor
“It was another world back then.”
As queer America has changed, so, too, has Fredonia.
Professor Emeritus John Malcolm was a student at Fredonia in the late 1950s, faculty until 1970 and sat as the founding chair of the communication department from 1977-98.
“I watched the culture evolve,” Malcolm said. “It used to be that everyone was under the table and it was just ‘don’t ask don’t tell.’”
So far under the table that Malcolm believes Fredonia, which was founded as one of 11 teacher’s colleges within the university system, was prejudiced towards openly gay students.
“I think that if a student was openly gay during my time as a student, that they probably would not have been able to teach places,” Malcolm said. “I think there would be some resistance to giving out a licence [if someone was openly gay]. I’m sure the school principals would say ‘I don’t want a gay person on my faculty.’”
But what was happening in Fredonia in the 1950s was also happening throughout the nation.
The first major organization acknowledging gay men as an oppressed cultural minority was founded in 1950 and followed by the first lesbian support network in 1955. When Malcolm was a student, queer communities started forming, and it wasn’t until he was a professor that the civil rights movement in 1965 kindled the first gay rights demonstrations in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — actions that sparked change nationwide, including at Fredonia.
The change, however, was not the result of a revolution. It was more like a social transformation of small, but critical, steps toward the end of a distinctive queer culture on campus. Over time, Fredonia has formed campus-specific resources for the queer community, including SafeZone, the Center for Multicultural Affairs, Pride Alliance, the Counseling Center and STEPS. It has also joined national resources, including the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resources Professionals, Safe School Coalition, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the Empire State Pride Agenda, among others.
As a professor throughout the 1960s, Malcolm watched the beginning of what would become a large cultural transformation on campus.
“With so many music students and drama students we had a fair share of gay students that came out while they were in college. And they were fine as long as they stayed on campus,” Malcom said. “Downtown, particularly Dunkirk, was still particularly divided — racially and otherwise. Society as a whole was still anti-gay. It was very quiet and very private. But there was definitely no harassment on campus.”
During the 1980s, the AIDS epidemic swept gay communities throughout the nation and demanded attention from supporters of gay rights. Nearly half a million activists took to the streets of Washington once again in 1987 — an event that’s success and size has led it to be referred to as “The Great March.”
As chair of the communication department, Malcolm oversaw many students and campus activities, and it was during this time that he says he started to see a queer community develop.
“There were still not really any gay culture groups on campus. Because it wasn’t accepted yet as much as it was just tolerated,” Malcolm said. “There was backup that started coming from the community and some faculty members but it was still all very new. I was never really concerned.”
Fredonia has a reputation for being an exceptionally hospitable and exciting place to be a member of the queer community. The campus’ celebration of Queer History Month honors how far the queer community has come concerning discrimination and equality. Dragapalooza alone attracts hundreds of students every year.
That reputation, however, is something that the Fredonia campus and community can all take pride in. Because it’s a change that didn’t just happen — it was achieved. And more than 50 years after he first set foot on campus, Malcolm admires the atmosphere for how far it has come with acceptance and inclusion.
“Now, I’d hate to have to count [the number of people on campus that are openly involved in the queer community].” Malcolm joked. “From the time I first came to Fredonia, there’s been so many changes.”