On Thursday, April 14, the Gender and Sexuality Union (GSU) hosted a LGBTQIA+/Queer Faculty Panel and Banquet in the Events Barn. In total, seven faculty members, which included professors and other staff members who identified as Queer, served as panelists and enjoyed a meal together with students from Minar Indian Cuisine. The professors on the panel included Assistant Professor of Asian Studies; Michelle LeMasurier, Associate Professor of Mathematics; Claire Mouflard, Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies, Martin Shedd, Visiting Assistant Professor in Classics and Religious Studies and Professor A*. The staff members on the panel included Karen Leach, Vice President of Administration and Finance and Head of the COVID-19 Taskforce; Najee Evans, Area Director for Residential Life and Hannah Stubley, ALEX Advisor.
The event started off with a dining period, during which students shared a meal with the faculty and staff members. After this period, the panelists made their way to the front of the room for the panel portion of the event. The moderator, Raymond Ni ’24, began by asking all of the panelists to introduce themselves. After some brief introductions, Ni dived into his questions for the moderated portion of the panel. He began by asking the panelists about how Hamilton College has impacted their identity and experience of being Queer, followed by a question about how being Queer has impacted the faculty and staff members’ career paths and choices for what they want to pursue. After all of the panelists answered these two questions, Ni began an audience Q & A session, during which students asked questions ranging from what the faculty members want to be changed at Hamilton regarding LGBTQIA+/Queer rights and insight on their coming out process at work.
When asked about her thoughts on the event, audience member Fiona Murphy ’23 replied that “the event was really needed on campus, especially given the spread-out nature of the student Queer community. The panelists were all diverse in their specific experiences, providing a comforting spectrum of ways to go about living our adult lives as members of the LGBTQIA+ community.” Murphy further noted that “we talk so much in college about how to secure a job and forge a professional career, but we don’t spend as much time talking about how to live as ourselves comfortably.”
Similarly, Emily Weinstein ’24 said that “the event was a great way to meet some of the Queer and LGBTQIA+ faculty on campus. I thought it was really great to hear their experiences at Hamilton and beyond, and how even though they all ended up here, everyone had such unique experiences.” She further noted that “[she] got to learn so much about Hamilton’s Queer community and its history, and it’s comforting to see ourselves represented in our past as a college and in those who uphold our values today.”
When asked whether she had any takeaways from the event, Fiona Murphy ’23 responded that “the biggest thing I am taking away from this panel is a greater visibility of older Queer people that we do not often see in the media. The LGBTQIA+ community is always presented as being young and idealized, but the panelists reminded me of the reality of aging as a queer person and the continued community that is possible even into adulthood.”
Towards the end of the panel, the panelists were asked “What message would you give to Queer/LGBTQIA+ students at Hamilton?” The conclusion of the faculty panel can be summed up with Professor A’s answer to this question: “being Queer is a gift.”
*Professor A is a pseudonym for an interviewee who requested to remain anonymous.
Event attendees and members of the GSU E-Board (top row) Ethan McKellop ’25, Raymond Ni ’24, Anna Skrobala ’24, and Shraddha Datta ’25, (bottom row) Melissa (Aurelie) Kaleka ’24, and Matthew Buneta ’25 pose for a photo. Photo courtesy of Raymond Ni ’24.