CONWAY, Ark — The president of the University of Central Arkansas is trying to calm a disheartened segment of its student body.
Frustration and confusion have grown since Houston Davis asked library staff members to remove a quote from a poster board and sent an email to the campus explaining his reasoning.
“I feel like it was just bad leadership on behalf of the university,” Julia Pistole said Wednesday, “because, I mean, we didn’t know why the sign was taken down and we really didn’t need to know. So, the fact that he sent that email, it just caused an unnecessary uproar.”
Pistole, a senior studying religion and philosophy, said she visits the Torreyson Library nearly every day and likes looking at the messages posted on the rear of the sign that sits outside its front doors. The outward-facing side of the sign always displays the library’s current hours, but the staff put messages or jokes on the back.
“Just, you know, silly things, related to memes,” Rylan Webb explained. “You know, just funny things.”
Last week, the staff posted a quote attributed to Lady Gaga: “Being gay is like glitter, it never goes away.”
“And then, one day, I came to the library and it had been replaced with something else, which is normal for the library sign,” Pistole said. “I didn’t really think anything of it.”
She learned that something out of the ordinary took place Tuesday when UCA President Houston Davis sent an email to the entire campus. In it, he explained that he believed the sign made “a personal statement or (advocated) for a personal viewpoint.”
While the intent of the posted quote was to show support for LGBT students during Pride Month, Davis said, “the library is an official arm of UCA and when it ‘speaks’ on that sign which serves information regarding library hours, it speaks officially.
We do have to be very careful that we walk the fine line between individual freedom of speech and institutional voice. This was one of those complicated situations.”
He added that the timing of the message factored into his decision because many teenagers and children are on campus during the summer for various camps and programs.
The letter did not sit well with many members of the UCA community.
“To me, it’s just saying there are people on campus who don’t like you and don’t want you here,” Pistole stated. “That’s what I was hearing. And it was just, like, kind of signaling, like, we just want to let you know that. I don’t know, it was just really weird that he sent that.”
Webb, a data science student, said the email quickly became a topic of conversation amongst her friends, some of whom are members of the LGBT community. “They all feel kind of hurt by this,” Webb said. “There’s, like, mixed reactions, you know, people just trying to figure out what’s even completely going on behind the scenes.”
Webb noted that the library has displays related to Pride Month featuring books about gay rights, a sign about its online resources featuring a quote from Harvey Milk, and it tweeted about some of the movies in its collection featuring LGBT characters.
“It feels good that they’re kind of celebrating, kind of, what’s normally hidden,” Webb said. “So, should they take all the stuff down in the library? You know? Should we take down the books, put them back on their shelves and stay hidden? Is that a personal viewpoint?”
Davis sent a follow-up email to the campus Wednesday afternoon. In it, he wrote “I understand that the removal of this quote has caused fury and sadness across campus. My observation that the library sign is a university platform and should be reviewed as such has morphed into a debate about UCA’s values and commitment to diversity.
“I am very sorry that this has been the outcome and that anyone has felt unwelcome or silenced. That was certainly never my intention. We are absolutely committed to supporting our LGBTQ students and our entire campus community.”
Davis added that he met with library faculty and staff on Wednesday and also scheduled a meeting with PRISM, a campus group dedicated to equality for LGBT students.
He listed many of the organizations and events dedicated to equality on campus and wrote, “those UCA faculty and staff close to day-to-day administrative operations are vigilant in defending and supporting our LGBTQ community.
Not only do we defend, but we also form a large portion of the core group of faculty and staff attendees and participants at these events.”
“Hopefully this sparks more conversation,” Pistole said. “Hopefully, this negative thing that’s happening causes some positive reaction. I mean, I feel like it’s at least getting people to talk about it.”
“Maybe it sparks change in the administration,” Webb added. “I don’t think the community is going to stay silent.”
The concern about the removed message has spread beyond UCA’s campus. Domestic Domestic, a household goods store in Little Rock, posted a photo to Facebook with the Lady Gaga quote on its own sidewalk sign. The photo included the caption, “we proudly welcome everyone, glitter and all.”