{"id":58,"date":"2021-05-05T19:27:08","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T23:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/arx340-cswaimfox\/?page_id=58"},"modified":"2021-05-12T19:51:12","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T23:51:12","slug":"experiences-with-smith-staff","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/experiences-with-smith-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Experiences With Smith Staff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With public controversies over Hover House and the administrations&#8217; responses to homophobic incidents, the relationship of Smithies to the faculty and administration was clearly fraught. Though lesbian students were gaining visibility and acceptance on campus during the 1980s, the response from the staff of Smith college was certainly mixed. According to the extended response parts of the survey, one professor referred to lesbians as \u201cthe perversion that has been gaining strength on campus\u201d and a Smith College counselor advised another student to leave Smith to \u201cget away from the lesbian influence.\u201d<sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-58-1' id='fnref-58-1' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(58)'>1<\/a><\/sup> Some students said that they had issues surrounding sexuality with the financial aid office. <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-58-2' id='fnref-58-2' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(58)'>2<\/a><\/sup> More than outright hostility, students noted silences around talking about lesbianism.<\/p>\n<div class=\"h5p-iframe-wrapper\"><iframe id=\"h5p-iframe-6\" class=\"h5p-iframe\" data-content-id=\"6\" style=\"height:1px\" src=\"about:blank\" frameBorder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"Smith Faculty Conversations\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Not all the respondents were upset about this lack of conversation. One noted, \u201cI am not close enough to any faculty member to discuss such a personal matter [their sexuality].\u201d Another stated, \u201cI simply prefer separating &#8220;private&#8221; sexuality\/relationships from academia.\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-58-3' id='fnref-58-3' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(58)'>3<\/a><\/sup> Another group of students mention talking to supportive professors and counselors that helped students understand their sexuality, and some spoke about talking to faculty that were gay themselves. One respondent called conversations about their sexuality with faculty \u201cValidating, reaffirming, supportive, encouraging.\u201d Another noted, \u201cIt was helpful, in that [gender deleted] was cool with it so we could involve [sexuality] in a larger discussion comfortably and supportively.\u201d <sup class='footnote'><a href='#fn-58-4' id='fnref-58-4' onclick='return fdfootnote_show(58)'>4<\/a><\/sup> This graph below shows the respondent\u2019s tendency to talk to different groups employed by the college about their sexuality.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_169\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-169\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-169 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33-1024x631.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33-1024x631.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33-300x185.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33-768x473.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-09.22.33.jpeg 1262w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-169\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Data Sourced from 1982 SCLA Survey, Page 14.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The respondents reported that not all groups of staff were equally supportive or unsupportive. The graph below shows how comfortable or uncomfortable the respondents perceived faculty members and administrators to be about lesbianism. The respondents perceived female faculty to be much more comfortable with lesbian students than male faculty and all faculty to be more comfortable than administrators.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_126\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-126\" style=\"width: 525px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-126 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44-1024x634.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"525\" height=\"325\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44-1024x634.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44-300x186.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44-768x475.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-07-at-08.32.44.jpeg 1254w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 525px) 100vw, 525px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-126\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Data from 1982 SCLA Survey Page 111.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For the respondents, navigating their sexuality with administration and faculty proved to be a complicated experience with mixed results. What do you think the attitude of faculty and administrators is towards lesbianism and LGBTQ issues is today? Have you had conversations with faculty or administrators about your sexuality or gender identity?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_209\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-209\" style=\"width: 50px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/sexual-experiences\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-209\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/app-1646214_640-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"50\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/app-1646214_640-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/app-1646214_640-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/app-1646214_640-100x100.png 100w, https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/661\/2021\/05\/app-1646214_640.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 50px) 100vw, 50px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-209\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Next Survey Page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class='footnotes' id='footnotes-58'>\n<div class='footnotedivider'><\/div>\n<ol>\n<li id='fn-58-1'> Lesbian Alliance Student Survey Results, May\u00a0 1983, CA-MS-00112, Box 3016.1, Folder 8, Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Alliance Records, Smith College Archives, https:\/\/findingaids.smith.edu\/repositories\/4\/resources\/16\/collection_organization, 34, 38. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-58-1'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-58-2'> Ibid., 119, 125.  <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-58-2'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-58-3'> Ibid., 121. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-58-3'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li id='fn-58-4'> Ibid., 34. <span class='footnotereverse'><a href='#fnref-58-4'>&#8617;<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With public controversies over Hover House and the administrations&#8217; responses to homophobic incidents, the relationship of Smithies to the faculty and administration was clearly fraught. Though lesbian students were gaining visibility and acceptance on campus during the 1980s, the response from the staff of Smith college was certainly mixed. According to the extended response parts &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/experiences-with-smith-staff\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Experiences With Smith Staff&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1891,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-58","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/58\/revisions\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/queer-social-worlds\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}