Jim Andris, Facebook

Main Article on Alestle Series on Homosexuality

In May of the preceding year, Prof. Jim Andris had watched, participated, and been educated as the SIUE Students for Gay Liberation (SGL) presented to the campus their Student Awareness Week. Through that experience he had become well-aware of the inherent power of the student newspaper, The Alestle. He had also worked for most of 1974 seeking inclusion of a non-discrimination clause for reason of sexual orientation in the Affirmative Action plan that was being developed at the University. While he had secured support for this goal from the University Senate and the Faculty Organization for Collective Bargaining, University Administration was resistent to making such a statement as part of the plan.

In early 1975 Andris begain negotiating with the Alestle editorial staff to print a series of articles which he would write and which were intended to educate the campus about the gay community and its issues. Unfortunately, Andris did not take notes and does not have a sharp recall of those details. John Harizol, a student from Granite City was Editor-in-Chief at the time. Andris had originally requested a two-week series, but the one that finally was approved ran from 2/3/75 to 2/8/75. He was allowed to also write an introduction, and the Alestle editorial staff wrote two additional supportive articles. In Andris' introduction he made the bold move to expose the process that he had gone through to get a statement of non-discrimination in the SIUE Affirmative Action Plan that was being developed, the support he had garnered from the Welfare Council, and the resistance he had experienced from the Administration. He concluded with this:

"This series will address a number of topics and how they relate to homosexuality: The replacement of the sickness theory of homosexuality by the alternative lifestyle theory, homosexuality as a possible moral and religious way of life, the changing law surrounding homosexuality, the discovery of the mental illness, homophobia, or fear of homosexuality, homosexual oppression and discrimination, homosexual history, stereotyping, prevalence, the gay subculture, gay activism, and homosexuality and the media.

"If you know less about the gay problem than you think you should, won't you please educate yourself by attending to the series. It's the least you could do."

Jim Andris, Assistant Professor, Foundations of Education.

The series had a dramatic effect on campus conversation for quite some time. A lot of people voiced their opinions, positive, negative, or hesitant. People were being forced to examine their own attitudes toward homosexuality.

You can explore the general tenor of this initiative in the various links on the menu bar.