Colleges' gay clubs clash with officials over name
By Sherry Saavedra
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 8, 2008
SAN DIEGO – Members of gay and lesbian clubs at two San Diego community colleges say campus administrators have violated their free speech rights by repeatedly blocking attempts to advertise their shared acronym: FAGS.
Jason Frye, president of the clubs on both campuses, said San Diego City College administrators took down the club's posters and instructed members to stop passing out fliers with the acronym. At San Diego Mesa College, Frye said, the club was told during Rush Week to remove a poster from its booth.
Frye stands by the use of the acronym for the club, whose full name is The Fellowship of Associated Gay Students & Straight Allies.
“We wanted something with a little pop to it, and we wanted to neutralize an epithet like a lot of groups have done with the word 'queer,' ” Frye said.
The conflict has forced the schools to weigh students' free speech rights against the rights of offended employees and other students.
Richard Dittbenner, spokesman for the San Diego Community College District, which oversees both schools, said the acronym generated complaints from some staff members and students at City College.
“They feel, 'Why should I have to be in an environment where a profane name is being used?' ” Dittbenner said. There were no complaints at Mesa College.
Dittbenner confirmed last week that City College banned fliers with the acronym, pending a review by a site compliance officer on the legal issues.
School officials said yesterday the name is now a moot issue because the group doesn't have an eligible adviser and therefore isn't an official club. Frye said the club does have an eligible adviser.
Meanwhile, a Mesa College dean said the school had issued its own restriction to be consistent with City College, asking club members to spell out the acronym on a sign during rush week.
Yesterday, Mesa College President Rita Cepeda said the school had reached a resolution.
“If students want to use FAGS&SA to shorten, that would be fine with me,” Cepeda said.
Frye is amenable to the compromise.
The tension began last spring, when members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Student Union at City College voted to rename themselves The Fellowship of Associated Gay Students, which later was expanded to the current name, Frye said. City College President Terry Burgess said the club never sought official approval for the new name.
Soon after, Mesa College's gay and lesbian student association switched to the same name and eventually received college approval.
Some Mesa students – such as Brande Faris, who is now vice president of the clubs on both campuses – signed up because of the new name.
“I thought it was a fabulous name,” Faris said. “I think anything that challenges people's paradigm and gets them to think outside the box, and at the same time reclaims what has been used as a hate word, is a positive thing.”
Frye said it wasn't until this school year that administrators cracked down.
First, Frye said, he posted several recruiting posters on the City College campus, including one that stated in big, bold letters: “The FAGS are back.” The full word for each letter was printed in smaller script.
Frye said an administrator removed that poster and several others. Dittbenner said the posters didn't meet the school's size restrictions.
Then club members were called into meetings with administrators and offended staffers, Frye said.
“They said we were in violation of several regulations,” he said. “We didn't have to change the name, but we couldn't put any emphasis on the acronym. We couldn't put it in bold.”
Burgess said there are several issues at hand. Before use of the acronym can be considered, the club needs an eligible adviser, he said. Official college approval would be needed for the name change.
Legal counsel then would need to weigh in on the acronym, he said.
“There are clearly conflicting issues,” Burgess said. “One is the student contention that they have the unilateral right to rename a club anything they please. . . . On the other side, we have faculty, staff and students who find use of the name patently offensive – exclusive rather than inclusive and a whole bunch of other issues.”
The two clubs have about 100 members combined, and roughly 25 active members. The Mesa College club is much larger.
Jay Murley, a part-time student who is secretary of the City College club, said the clubs have three primary goals: to promote safe sex by handing out free condoms; to campaign against Proposition 8, which would constitutionally ban same-sex marriage in California; and to redefine the word “fags” so that it is no longer a slur.
Not every student believes the name is a good idea.
“Their rationale for using the acronym is to provoke in an unpleasant manner,” said Robert DeMartini, student government president at City College. “I'm not for that. . . . How far are we allowed to go?” |
 
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