Posters put up in Frist Campus Center several days ago read "Why Hargadon? Accountability Now."
Three weeks after the announcement of Dean of Admission Fred Hargadon as this year's Baccalaureate speaker, a few dissenting voices from the senior class are beginning to make themselves heard.
Much of the outcry comes from the Queer Radicals group, an unofficial campus organization that formed at the start of this year. The group works to create respect on campus for what it claims is a marginalized gay community.
The Queer Radicals claim that Hargadon has discriminated against the queer community on campus by omitting information about homosexual resources from the admission bulletins given to prospective students.
Virgilio Sklar '03, a Woodrow Wilson School major and member of the Queer Radicals, said he discussed the admission bulletin issue with Hargadon in the fall, but with no result.
Sklar said that after that he met with President Tilghman. According to Sklar, Tilghman was "astounded" at the omission, and promised that information about homosexual resources on campus would be included in the admission bulletin next year.
The issue with Hargadon did not come up again until after Winter Break, Sklar said, when the announcement that he would be Baccalaureate speaker was made.
The intent of the posters, Sklar said, is not to find a different Baccalaureate speaker, but to "spark a dialogue" and "create a voice of dissent."
Lauren Robinson-Brown '85, director of University communications, said that Hargadon represents the University in an admissions policy that does not participate in any form of discrimination.
"The very existence of this group [the Queer Radicals] is evidence of varying backgrounds and opinions that are welcome," she said. "And that's why they're here on this campus."
Robinson-Brown added that the Baccalaureate address has little to do with the admission process, and said that the protesters "need to separate the issues and focus on the one that concerns them."
Sklar said he and others resented that the seniors "were just sort of told it in this way, 'we know you all love him.'"
Robinson-Brown pointed out, however, that though Tilghman ultimately decides on the Baccalaureate speaker, she chooses from a list given to her by a committee of faculty and senior class officers.
The most the Queer Radicals hoped for as a result of their publicity efforts was an apology, Sklar said, but he says he is glad that the campus has taken notice.
"I'm already happy that people are talking about it," he said.
Neither Hargadon nor senior class president Catherine Farmer '03 could be reached for comment.
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