Project: Queer on Campus

This project was created by students in the GWSS/GLBT 3404 spring 2023 class. To explore other projects created by students in this class, please visit the complete collection available at this MNT project library page.

Queer on Campus, a project created by University of Minnesota undergraduate students in Ali Yildirim's GWSS 3404 course, is an exploration into the importance of the Queer Student Cultural Center (QSCC) on the University of Minnesota's campus as an organizing force for activism related to LGBTQ+ issues and as a safe space for Queer students to find community and express themselves. The team engaged in archival research through the Jean-Nickolaus Tretter Collection, sifting through boxes of QSCC materials to tell two stories that articulate the value of the Center to campus culture through primary sources. The first story that the team chose to retell is about protests that QSCC members organized in the early 1990s in response to the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program's refusal to allow LGBTQ+ students to serve in its ranks, a stance that contradicted the University's equal opportunity policy that prohibited discrimination based on "sexual preference." The second story focuses on celebrations of Queer life that the QSCC has held on campus throughout the years, namely National Coming Out Week (NCOW) and Spring Pride. To commemorate these stories and make them come to life, the team filmed videos narrating these histories outside of various sites of memory on campus where the events took place and created a corresponding map to facilitate further visualization of these narratives for the audience. Through this project, the team hopes to not only highlight the importance of the QSCC to the LGBTQ+ student experience at the University but also to remember the contributions of past members and to retell these stories to prevent them from being lost to the archives.

To view a land acknowledgment for this project, please reference the description section of the ROTC discrimination case video.

Sites of memory map

Map Key

• Armory: Past and current home of ROTC operations on campus, site of multiple protests against the program in the early 1990s.
• Morrill Hall: Site of multiple student protests during University Board of Regents meetings. Notable October 1992 demonstration when seven students handcuffed themselves to the chairs of six regents and then University President Nils Hasselmo to protest the Board's inaction on the ROTC issue.
• Johnston Hall: Site of April 1991 "Kiss-off" protest against the ROTC's campus presence and homophobic policy.
• The Mall: Site of multiple events related to NCOW and Spring Pride celebrations. Bands would play on the outdoor stage near Northrop Auditorium, shirts with LGBTQ+ related designs were sold, and "Lavender Door '' ceremonies occurred here during select years. The "Lavender Door" ceremony was a ritual to signify a student's coming out where they would walk through the door to the applause of their friends, QSCC members, and, on select occasions, Goldy the Gopher.
• Washington Avenue Bridge: A Site of some NCOW "Lavender Door" ceremonies.
• Coffman Memorial Union: Current home of the QSCC office and student community space. QSCC identity affinity groups utilize this space as a meeting spot. Outside of the Union was the site of some NCOW "Lavender Door" celebrations.

Video one: ROTC Discrimination - Morrill Hall, Johnston Hall, and the Armory

In addition to the more celebratory events that the QSCC has planned and hosted throughout its history, such as the formerly annual Spring Pride and National Coming Out Week celebrations detailed in our other video, the Center has also used its power and prowess for community organizing in more activism-oriented ways. One of the most significant protest-based events that the QSCC orchestrated was against the University's collaboration with the Reserve Officer Training Corps program, which in the early 1990s actively discriminated against LGBTQ+ people, barring them from their ranks. This directly conflicted with the University's affirmative action and equal opportunity policy prohibiting discrimination based on "sexual orientation." Watch the video to learn more about the daring demonstrations and brave activism QSCC members engaged in and the resolution of this conflict.

Given the subject matter for this particular story and the fact that the overarching site of memory for this project is the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus, our team felt it necessary to acknowledge the history of this land and the forms of oppression perpetuated by the United States military against not only indigenous peoples but the LGBTQ+ community occupying this space as well. We acknowledge that the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus is built on the traditional and contemporary homelands of the Dakota people. We would also like to note the context of the University being a land-grant university, which the United States government established by stealing land from around 250 tribal nations. As a land-grant institution, the University is required to provide military training on its campus, which led to the establishment of its ROTC program, a key player in this story. In understanding the ROTC's connection as an affiliate program of the United States military, we would like to acknowledge the violence that this larger entity has inflicted upon indigenous populations across the country and specifically in Minnesota through events like the US-Dakota War of 1862 and the infamous hangings of 38 Dakota men in Mankato. Given that the central issue of the event narrated in the video was the ROTC and larger United States military policy of discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community and its commitment to upholding homophobia, we invite the audience to think about and interrogate this complex intersection of violence, identity, institution, and place that is contained within this history.

Sources consulted for land acknowledgment:

Bruck, David I. “HOW ROTC Got Started . . . | News.” The Harvard Crimson, 31 December 1969, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1969/2/3/how-rotc-got-started-/. Accessed 20 April 2023.

University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts Holocaust and Genocide Studies. “US-Dakota War of 1862 | Holocaust and Genocide Studies.” College of Liberal Arts, https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/us-dakota-war-1862. Accessed 20 April 2023.

University of Minnesota Office of Admissions. “Land Acknowledgement | Office of Admissions.” UMN Admissions, https://admissions.tc.umn.edu/land-acknowledgement. Accessed 20 April 2023.

Link to script

Video two: National Coming Out Week/Spring Pride - Washington Avenue Bridge, Coffman Memorial Union, and The Mall

The Queer Student Cultural Center was created in 1969 to create a safe and supportive environment for students part of the LGBTQ+ community. Part of doing so was not only to provide spaces of safety but also to host events for the celebration of Queer identities. Two of the largest events are the National Coming Out Week event in the Fall semester and the Spring Pride event in the Spring Semester.

A well-loved tradition of NCOW was where students could walk through the "lavender door," a lavender-painted door and frame that would get set up at the event. During an NCOW celebration in 2002, the University of Minnesota’s mascot, Goldy the Gopher, walked through the door to support the Queer community. However, this had more outcomes than was expected, as the event received a backlash against the idea of Goldy the Gopher “coming out as gay.” There were a lot of negative responses resulting from homophobia, as well as some positive ones in support of the QSCC, that were documented within this video.

Link to script

Photo gallery

Bibliography