Bring Back the Double Beds! Alumni Response to the Formation of the Gay Student Union

The initial meeting of UNC Greensboro’s first LGBTQ+ student group, the Gay Student Union, occurred in September 25, 1979, but the first meeting as a university-recognized organization occurred one month later, on October 25th.(2) Immediately after the front page announcement for the Gay Student Union in The Carolinian was published, letters began coming into university administration from disgruntled alumni. The tone of all letters preserved in university records is negative, perceiving campus administration as encouraging the practice of homosexuality by allowing a student group:

“I write in protest the use of facilities of a tax-supported university by such an organization as that reported in The Carolinian excerpt. I also protest the official status given the organization by the administration, the participation by a faculty member as “faculty adviser,” and any other activity by which the administration or faculty may be encouraging homosexual activity among university students or others at the university.”(3)

Various arguments were written against the permitting of the formation of the Gay Student Union, some more coherent than others. There were two prominent themes among the letters. The first is that homosexuality is a perversion leading to the collapse of civilization:

“Oh, yes, homosexuality is chic now in many parts of our land. It has always become fashionable in every nation turned decadent -- thus preferring ‘gay’ irresponsible sterility to the sober source of its strength -- the family and the home.”(4)

The second argument is that by joining the Gay Student Union, young people would be stunting their maturity(5), and if the students isolated themselves, they would never be able to adapt to living in heterosexual society:

“The point that I am making, and I think it is incontrovertable [writer’s spelling] is that, if they separate themselves from the rest of the college community into a ‘gay’ organization they will have tremendously difficult time changing to the ‘straight’ community if they should wish to do so later. The idea is that a college should open doors, not close them. I know that when I went to N.C.C.W. then a woman’s college, many girl’s had crushes. They ran their course and were usually over before the senior year. Many, many young people do have a terrific orientation of affection to someone of the same sex during these years. I think that a great many of the girls who had ‘crushes’ then would have joined such an organization if it had existed at the time [space added] Later, with his or her picture appearing as ‘Treasurer of the ‘Gay’ organization or becoming known as a faithful attendant of its meetings and social events, the person would be pigeonholed and freedom of choice la ter [space original to letter] on made extremely difficult.”(6)

Although the letters were addressed to different individual(7), James H. Allen (Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs) was the person who responded to the letters. The same reply was used for all of the letters, emphasizing that UNC Greensboro as an institution,

“... has always sought to maintain an open atmosphere in which various ideas and movements which are influencing our society may be carefully studied and discussed in the belief that knowledge and understanding provide the surest foundation upon which we may build a stable society.”(8)

Allen continued to write that the Gay Student Union met the same requirements of any official student organization, and that aside from the university recognizing the organization, the only resources allocated to the Gay Student Union by the school was a place to meet and that their activities could be listed on the university’s calendar. The letters end by citing several federal court cases in which LGBTQ student organizations won suits against universities for withholding official group status.

It should be noted that most of the people writing in complaint were alumna from the 1920s. Through most of their lives, homosexuality was a mental disorder. Theirs is not a surprising response to the formation of a LGBTQ student organization, nor would their written protest be the worse dissent with which the LGBTQ students of UNCG would contend.

1. "Bring Back the Double Beds" the phrase refers to how students would sleep two to a bed when the campus first opened in 1892. Students could pay $4 extra to have their own bed. After the campus Typhoid Epidemic in 1899, students were assigned their own single beds due to health regulation.

2. "Corrections," The Carolinian, Nov. 6, 1979, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

3. Mattie Erma Parker, Letter to Dr. William C. Friday, Nov. 12, 1979, MS. PRIDE!, Student Organizations, UA 51.27, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

4. Katherine G. Rogers, Letter to Trudy Walton Atkins, Feb. 1, 1980, MS. PRIDE!, Student Organizations, UA 51.27, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

5. See LGBTQ+ Topics in the Early College Curriculum

6. Julia Blauvelt Crum, Letter to Dr. James H. Allen, Jan. 20, 1980, MS. PRIDE!, Student Organizations, UA 51.27, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

7. Letters were sent to James H. Allen, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at UNCG, William Friday, President of the UNC System, as well as editors of the UNCG Alumni News and the Greensboro News and Record.

8. James H. Allen, Letter to Julia Blauvelt Crum, Feb. 13, 1980, MS. PRIDE!, Student Organizations, UA 51.27, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Counseling for the “Crush,” Key L. Barkley and Early Lesbian Students

Oral histories conducted with early UNC Greensboro campus faculty provide rare glimpses into the lives of LGBTQ students, if only illustrating the population’s need to remain hidden for survival. An interview with Professor Key L. Barkley(1) reveals that early students were having lesbian encounters. Barkley (1900- 2001) was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at the Woman’s College (now UNC Greensboro) from 1931 to 1949. Students would seek counseling from him because there was no office on campus where students could unburden themselves by discussing significant life events with any assurance of confidentiality. Barkley was hired as teaching faculty, not clinical faculty(2), but at the time of Barkley’s hiring there were no professionally trained mental health professionals on campus. Eventually, he would successfully petition for a professional psychiatrist position.

Students occasionally would seek guidance from Barkley about lesbian encounters with other students. Openly admitting to a lesbian experience or identifying as a lesbian on campus was dangerous. It is known that students were aware that homosexuality by some definition existed, but had no campus support they could trust to understand their personal experiences in context. As a psychological disorder(3), homosexual behavior could be used as pretext to expel a student as suffering from a mental disorder that could not be treated by campus medical staff. Barkley, before the hiring of a campus psychiatrist, was the closest to a mental health care professional bound by patient-doctor confidentiality available on campus, and students trusted him for his expertise and discretion.

Word spread that Barkley was providing counseling to students, and the Dean of Women(4) interrogated him. To her horror, Barkley admitted that some students were seeking counseling from him about their lesbian encounters. The Dean reported this information to Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson. Jackson demanded that Barkley cease counseling the students, stating, "Why, young girls ought not to be talking to young men about this sort of thing."(5)  Barkley told Jackson that he refused to turn away a student coming to speak to him in need. After Barkley’s interaction with the chancellor, he was pressured by the Dean and his department head to seek a position elsewhere, which he would in 1949.

Barkley, as a professional, never divulged the secrets of the students who sought his advice, but in his oral history from 1991, he did offer his generalized opinion relating to lesbian experiences among students. In his own words,

“… you had three or four thousand women shut up over there in a coop. They were sexual as the dickens, at a time when probably they were probably burning as highly as they'd ever burn in their lifetimes. And there they were, highly sexual people with no normal sexual outlets. So there grew up a practice on that campus, as well as many other places, on allowing women a great deal of leeway with respect to homosexual expression with respect to each other—hug each other, kiss each other, caress each other, and so on. Innocent as you please… I told them in my estimation that these girls here are not extensively homosexual in nature, although I had quite a number of episodes involving such. I said, ‘These girls here are not homosexual. They’re just simply sexual with no heterosexual opportunity for expression… I believe that if they just get a chance for them to have heterosexual expression, in most cases their homosexuality will go “poof.’’"(6)

It is interesting to observe that Barkley’s description of the students’ sexual development reflects the model found in the 1921 lecture notes. Throughout most of his career, Barkley taught and practiced with the perspective that homosexuality was an abnormally stagnated stage of sexuality interfering with an individual’s maturation into heterosexual adulthood. This standpoint would be central to whatever advice he conveyed to student. Additionally, for students who took classes with homosexuality discussed as a topic, this would have been possibly the intellectual viewpoint from which they would characterize same sex attraction. It is very likely that Barkley’s assessment was correct in that some of the students experienced lesbian encounters as opposed to dedicated lesbian relationships. What may never be known(7) is how many students would have remained or continued in lesbian relationships if a definition of homosexuality as a natural form of sexuality was accepted at this time.(8)    

1. Oral history interview with Key L. Barkley, 1991, UNCG Centennial Oral History Project, OH003, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA. 

2. Barkley did operate a private psychiatric practice when he was working at the University of Illinois.

3. The American Psychiatric Association did not remove homosexuality as a mental disorder from its diagnostic manual until 1973. The World Health Organization designated homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1992.
4. Harriet Elliott was most likely the Dean of Women at the Women’s College during this encounter (1935-1947), but Barkley does not provide the exact date of the event. 

5.Barkley was forty years old at the time.

6. Oral history interview with Key L. Barkley, 1991, UNCG Centennial Oral History Project, OH003, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
7. It is possible in the future that personal papers (diaries or letters) or oral histories of alumnae from this time period may offer evidence, but none have yet been found.
8. Max Hirschfeld, at the Institute for Human Sexuality in Berlin, had already accepted the normality of sexual variation in the modern sense from approximately the 1910s onward. See Elena Mancini, Magnus Hirschfeld and the Quest for Sexual Freedom; a History of the First Sexual Freedom Movement (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

LGBTQ+ Topics in the Early College Curriculum

As any researcher of LGBTQ+ history is aware, tracking a hidden population through the historic record relies upon extracting a narrative from rare and frequently cryptic fragments of information. Even though UNC Greensboro began as a college for women with records dating to the school’s chartering in 1891, unearthing even a passing mention of a LGBTQ-related topic in the official records of the university in its earliest years constitutes a major discovery. The first mention of homosexuality found in the historical record of UNC Greensboro (at this time, the North Carolina College for Women) appears in lecture notes from the Department of Physical Education dating to 1921. The content of these notes is crucial not only as early evidence that some students were taught a vocabulary to describe homosexuality, but also in understanding the model of sexuality students would be applying to their own identities.

The lecture notes (1) present a then plausible developmental model of sexuality. It is maintained that from ages 1 to 10, humans exist in a state of bisexuality, described in the notes as “... curiosity age. A trying out, a seeking and testing of parts of the body.” Homosexuality, which is defined in the notes as “Auto eroticism, or love of self,” occurs between the ages of 10 to 22, after which an individual will fully mature into a state of heterosexuality. Homosexuality, as an abnormal state, occurs when that developmental stage is arrested by same sex sexual gratification during the homosexual stage, not allowing an individual to grow into a healthy, heterosexual adult.

The notes focus intensively on the concept of “The Crush” among young women, in which a younger, more submissive woman might be attracted to an older, more confidant woman. Although it is stated that “Love between people of the same sex may be very beautiful,” the lecture warns that the woman with the crush could be drawn into “a condition of submission” or “a condition of weak-willness.” As future educators, the NCCW students receiving this lecture were advised to sublimate the infatuation with someone of the same sex through involvement with social groups and community organizations. Essentially, if a teacher was to observe homosexual behavior that would arrest a young woman’s growth into heterosexuality, they were to redirect the woman’s energy and work it out of her. To reiterate that homosexuality is merely a transition state to heterosexuality, it is asserted that there is “no truly homosexual individual in the world.” (2) In any case, the abnormal state of homosexuality should not be encouraged because it “is immature, non-developing [and] non-constructive,” as “No new life can come from it.”

Homosexuality, then, was an abnormally arrested state of development, and therefore, an illness. Homosexuality was designated a psychological disorder until 1973, sequestering much of the official record of lesbian relationships on this campus among students to the security of student health records. Even before the health record protections of FERPA, student health records were among the most confidential records on campus, and were not transferred to the University Archives as part of the institution's record retention policy. In other words, the records with the potential to be the richest sources for LGBTQ+ history at a university are the most restricted.

In terms of non-medical institutional records and private records, documenting non-heterosexual relationships among students presented a significant danger to both the early institution and the students. It is unlikely a university at that time would retain records documenting instances of discovered homosexual relationships among students for fear of scandal and damage to the institution’s reputation if such records became public knowledge. Personal diaries and letters in which students describe same-sex relationships constituted a great risk for a student, as such material, if discovered, could lead to expulsion from school (and perhaps far more severe consequences at home). For students and administrators at a small women’s college in the Bible Belt, discretion in documenting matters of sexuality was paramount, which is why such little information exists on the LGBTQ history of UNC Greensboro in its early years.

1. The faculty teaching from the notes is not identified. Lecture Notes. Physical Education Department (prior to 1920-1963) Subject File, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.2. The underlined word is underlined in the original material.

Student Life at Ye Junior Shoppe

Today, UNCG students can find small shops selling snacks and other sundries in various places across campus. But in the earlier years of the university, the on-campus shopping options were significantly fewer - and often run by the students themselves.

In 1913, the junior class decided to raise money to support their annual banquet and dance through sale of hot soup, hot chocolate, and sandwiches from a small basement kitchenette in the Curry Building. Both college students and students at the Curry School were able to purchase these lunches. Each item cost five cents. This was a time consuming job, however, and in the late 1910s, they shifted their focus to a small stand in the campus post office that sold pennants, hairnets, and other small items. The stand, which was dubbed Ye Junior Shoppe, also served as a site for coordinating the development of film.

Entrance to the Junior Shoppe,
Administration Building (now Foust)

Dormitory-based shops were the next evolution in student-led campus stores. One junior in each dormitory would serve as an in-residence sales person for high-demand items like hairpins. The stand in the campus post office continued as well. A poem in the January 22, 1921 issue of The Carolinian student newspaper advertised the shop:

Patronize "Ye Junior Shoppe" at all times,

Save up your nickles and your dimes,

To buy of its many wares and novelties,

You can get necessities and frivolities,

And too, it is so near at hand;

Right in the post office is the Junior Stand.

In the 1922-1923 school year, President Julius Foust allowed the junior class to open a formal store in a designated location on campus. The shop operated in some years in the Students' Building; in others it had a space in the Administration Building (now Foust). They sold items including snacks, camera film, hair nets, picture postcards of campus, memory books, and college rings. In its first year of operation, the shop made a profit of $800.

Over the years, the inventory of the store grew.. In 1931, the shop installed tables and chairs and began selling sandwiches and cold drinks. By the mid-1940s, it was so successful that the store's annual profit grew to nearly $12,000. In a 1990 oral history interview, Margaret Daniel Wilkerson Thurston (class of 1949) noted, "the room probably should have held twenty people, and there would be two hundred in there." Chancellor Walter Clinton Jackson argued that this was more money than the junior class needed, so, in 1945, the college took over operations of the shop.

Students at the Soda Shop, 1955

Renamed the Soda Shop, it moved in 1948 into a new building on College Avenue. This building was located on the former site of the Wooden Dormitory (also known as Little Guilford), which had just been demolished. Profits from the Soda Shop were used to finance student scholarships.

1949 also saw the demolition of the old Students' Building and, soon after, the construction of the new Elliott Hall, which opened in 1953. In the early 1960s, Elliott Hall added a small cafeteria, which was also known as the Soda Shop. The next-door soda shop building was then transformed into a faculty center in 1963.

The Crescendoes: UNC Greensboro’s Lost Folk Music Group

UNC Greensboro student music ensembles historically have been classically-based. Although Woman’s College can be proud of its very own all-female 1940s “big band,” the Darlinettes and Rhythmettes, it was not until much later in the school’s history that the music curriculum experimented with popular music. Consequently, what some might consider the state soundtrack of North Carolina, folk music, never seemed to insinuate itself into the daily listening of the greater student body.

A small group of students set out to change this during the 1962-1963 school year. Three students, Lea Jane Berinatti, Janey Walters, and Pat Bowen, were introduced at a meeting for a student music organization. They bonded over their love of folk music and formed a group. Pam Robbins, an interior design major, would eventually replace Pat Bowen who left to New York on a choir trip, and by the 1963-64 school year, one of UNC Greensboro’s early male students Ray Baker, a psychology major, would join the group. This quartet became known as the Crescendoes, the college’s first folk music group.

The Crescendoes wrote and arranged their own music in addition to performing well-known folk pieces and spirituals. Their most popular song was the spiritual, “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” but their own arranged pieces, “The Very Last Day” and “The Very Good Year” also were crowd favorites. By 1965, the Crescendoes released their first album, recorded by Copeland and performed throughout the Triad area.

Interestingly, once the Crescendoes graduated and moved on with their lives, no other student group stepped in to pick up the folk music tradition. Although folk music’s introduction to the UNC Greensboro campus was successful, the popularity of the genre decreased rapidly among students. When asked to gauge student interest in folk music, campus radio station employee, Class of 1964 alumna, and folk music enthusiast, Janet Hamer, reported that “Folk music apparently had decreased in public appeal on this campus. We had three programs last year, and attendance dropped off considerably at the third program. If enough students showed interest, we would continue the folk music series.”

So, why did folk music die on the UNC Greensboro campus? Hamer believed it happened for two reasons. The first is that the campus did not have the quality of the the particular types of musicians that could and would perform folk music. Lea Jane Berinatti was considered one of the top guitarists on the UNCG Campus, but of all the members of the Crescendoes, only she was a music major. As the National Folk Festival was centered in Asheville at the time and Greensboro was not known for its folk music scene, students on campus were not widely exposed to what might be considered authentic folk music. The second reason folk music never took hold on the campus, according to Hamer, was that folk music was becoming so commercialized by that time that few students knew what true folk music was supposed to sound like. That being said, she admits that “Some of the purists don’t sound very good to the untrained ears. We have a preconceived idea of folk music formed by commercial singers.”

Thankfully, the genre has been reintroduced successfully on the UNC Greensboro campus, and students now have access to quality folk music performances. In 2008, the UNCG Old Time Ensemble was created by Dr. Revell Carr with the mission “to give students an opportunity to learn songs and tunes that have been part of North Carolina’s culture for generations.” Additionally, in 2015, the National Folk Festival (now the North Carolina Folk Festival) began to be hosted in Greensboro, NC, giving everyone in the city the opportunity to cultivate a trained-ear for folk music.

____________________________________

Cary, Faye Jenkins. "Folksinging: Fading Fad or Priceless Heritage." The Carolinian 15 January, 1965, p. 4.

When Politics and Sexuality Collide: UNCG PRIDE Week, 2004

The intersectionality of political identity versus sex and gender generates combative rhetoric, and UNC Greensboro witnessed such conflict in 2004. PRIDE Week traditionally takes place in March or April on UNC Greensboro’s campus.[1] PRIDE Week was sponsored by the UNC Greensboro student group, PRIDE[2], and included events such as a picnic by a lake, PRIDE Prom, and a student drag show (co-sponsored by the Residence Hall Association), featuring a silent auction and bake sale. The scheduled keynote speaker for UNCG PRIDE Week 2004 was Debra Davis, a retired transgender high school librarian who was executive director of the Gender Education Center.[3] These events were typical of PRIDE Weeks at UNC Greensboro, but the publicity of the week of 2004 was to be unlike that of the past festivities.

 

The Carolinian, March 25, 2004, page 1

Intentionally scheduled to compete with PRIDE Week, the newly formed UNC Greensboro College Republicans scheduled Morality Week at the same time. In the words of a UNC Greensboro senior and member of the College Republicans, “We want to show that there is a large section of society that is not happy with the perverse and degrading change in culture over the past 50 years.”[4] Morality Week began with an affirmative action bake sale, continued with events such as “Right to Life Day,” “No Hump Day,”[5] and a barbecue. The College Republicans selected the University of North Carolina at Wilmington professor, Mike Adams, as their keynote speaker.  The selection and funding of Adams as a speaker caused scandal, as accusations were made by the College Republicans that UNC Greensboro was refusing funding for the conservative speaker and Morality Week events. Argument became especially bitter after Adams wrote an article labeling the university as UNC Gomorrah[6] for funding a lecture by feminist author, photographer, and pornographer, Tristan Taormino, that February.[7]

College Republican chairman, Travis Billingsley, claimed that the student organization was misled purposefully into not filling out an allocation form in order that Morality Week would not receive funds. It was ironic that the College Republicans claimed the lack of funding was overt discrimination, as Jason Crawford, presidential candidate for the College Republicans in 2004, argued for the cutting or elimination of PRIDE’s budget over their Black History Month book display in 2002.[8] As heated debate ensued, the UNC Greensboro Office of Student Life assisted the College Republicans in obtaining $2000 to support their events.[9] When asked why the Office of Student Life decided to step in to offer funding to the College Republicans, Assistant Director of Student Life, Checka Leinwall, stated, “A college campus is one of the hallmark market places of ideas. Morality Week will give our students an opportunity to look at different points of view.”[10]

There was great concern on campus about protests that might occur between organizers at both PRIDE and Morality Week events. The College Republicans’ affirmative action bake sale saw protesters from the UNCG Socialists, UNCG Universalist Unitarians, the NAACP, the UNCG Neo-Black Society, and even a few North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University students. There was no report of UNCG PRIDE and the College Republican members protesting each other’s events. According to Michael Bishop, business manager of PRIDE, “We have decided to take the high road. They [the College Republicans] have a right to have it. It is a slap in the face that they are having it in the same week.”[11] Melissa Holland, the Student Government PRIDE representative, went so far as to suggest “The College Republicans should come to some of our events and listen to what we have to say instead of judging us from a far, and we should do the same.”[12]

Both UNC Greensboro PRIDE and the College Republicans considered their respective events successful. Many people were offended, but there was no report of violence. The significance of this clash of politics versus sexuality and gender on a North Carolina university campus, though it did not seem of great importance at the time, is a foreshadowing of the future. In a few years, North Carolina would receive international attention relating to the state government’s stance on marriage equality and trans issues. PRIDE Week versus Morality Week at UNC Greensboro was a small taste of the controversy that would draw the UNC system universities into news headlines with events that are still unfolding.  

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^[1] UNC Greensboro commemorates PRIDE Week in March, as opposed to June, because the spring semester ends in May, therefore most students would not have the opportunity to celebrate. In 2004, UNC Greensboro PRIDE Week was celebrated from March 18th to March 26th.

^[2] As of 2016, the UNC Greensboro LGBTQ student organization changed its name to the Queer Student Union.

^[3] Hilary Hellens, “PRIDE Week Rolls along According to Schedule,” The Carolinian, Feb. 18, 2002, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[4] Eren Tartaragasi, “Affirmative Action Bake Sale Draws Fire,” The Carolinian, Feb. 18, 2002, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[5] The College Republicans arranged a presenter to speak on sexual abstinence.

^[6] It should be noted that the first Gomorrah reference made to UNC Greensboro is recorded in a letter from disgruntled alumna from 1979.

Mike S. Adams, “Welcome to UNC Gomorrah,” Townhall, March 1, 2004. Accessed Oct. 17, 2017. https://townhall.com/columnists/mikeadams/2004/03/01/welcome-to-unc-gomorrah-n1284950

^[7] There was a perception that Taormino’s lecture was funded officially by UNC Greensboro, using taxpayer money. It was not. The funding was aloccated from student fees all incoming students at UNC Greensboro pay, portions of which are distributed to student groups and student services.

 Joe Killian, “Sex Lecturer’s UNCG Visit Sparks Debate,” Greensboro News and Record (Greensboro, NC), March 21, 2004.

^[8] Joe Wilbur and John W. Ayers, “PRIDE under Siege,” The Carolinian, March 4, 2002, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[9] Anna Liles, “College Republicans Get Money, Support from OSL,” The Carolinian, March 18, 2004, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[10] Ibid.

^[11] Hilary Hellens, “PRIDE Week Rolls along According to Schedule,” The Carolinian, Feb. 18, 2002, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[12] Ibid.

UNC Greensboro Coming Out: Queer Students in the 1990s

The 1990s saw considerable change for the campus climate for UNC Greensboro students.[1] For the first time in newspaper articles, LGBTQ+ students were identifying themselves by name. Literally a century after the doors of the school first opened (1892-1992), there is a published interview with a UNC Greensboro sophomore, Keith Hill, who identified himself as a black, gay male. Hill was a member of the Gay and Lesbian Student Association (GLSA), the current name of the UNC Greensboro LGBTQ+ student organization of the time. The interview was titled, “Dialogue with a Homosexual,” appearing in The Carolinian. Hill’s candid responses provide insight into the lives of LGBTQ+ students on campus, as well as the intersectionality of race and sexuality.

 

The Carolinian, April 16, 1992, page 12

When asked about how other UNC Greensboro students reacted to him coming out, Hill responded,

“Surprisingly, my heterosexual male friends are very supportive… For me, the biggest problem I get is from black students here on-campus because I think blacks are less.. They have less doings with homosexuals than, say, Anglo-Saxon Americans simply because in the black community, it’s not something - since the black community is so steeped in religion and Christianity - and that tradition says homosexuality is wrong. So it’s not something they’re willing to try and accept or even come to terms with.”[2]

When asked about if he feared any discrimination for being openly gay at UNC Greensboro, he says “No, because the way I see it is that, while I’m in school, it is up to me to set the direction I take once I graduate. And if I live that direction openly… every advance that I make, I make it because who I am consists in me being gay.”[3] Additionally, Hill, who was single and twenty-three at the time of the interview, described the difficulties he experienced in trying to find steady relationships.

“I will soon be 24. Based on the average age, this is the time when you meet somebody and start settling down…  But (homosexuals) don’t have the same means for meeting someone that a heterosexual does. You don’t have the same comfortable environment for going out and finding meaningful relationships.”[4]

Not giving up hope, later in the interview, Hill continues to say he wants “to meet another man, fall in love. I want to adopt kids, to have a family… I want to have a big wedding one day!” Among the more thoughtful perspectives Hill offers in the interview is the plight of young gay men looking for role models.

“You have to understand also that in being gay, you don’t have any role models to identify with. The role models you see portrayed are very effeminate in nature or some creature - unnatural, lustful. And so you have to go against all of that programming and begin to identify with the things that give you a sense of well being, of who you are. And most of those things that give you a sense of well being are very atypical - the perfect bod, the perfect clothes.”[5]

Overall, Keith Hill’s interview was a landmark event in UNC Greensboro history, as it was the first time a named student spoke extensively about what it was like to be a member of the LGBTQ+ community on the record. Not only was 1992 the year of Hill’s article, but five months later, the city newspaper, the Greensboro News and Record, covered UNC Greensboro’s National Coming Out Day, interviewing sophomore, Robert Woodard. At UNC Greensboro, National Coming Out Day, observed October 11th, is celebrated with an information booth and ceremony in front of the campus dining hall. Pamphlets, magazines, and buttons relating to LGBTQ+ education are handed out to students, and there is a "coming out ceremony" in which students can publicly identify as LGBTQ+ to the campus. The writer of the article, Bill Morris, begins the piece stating, “He’s a courageous young man, this Robert Woodward.” While the piece was short and the interview only included very basic questions, the tone was very positive for the local media.[6]

About a week after the publishing of the article, Morris was compelled to write a second article describing reader responses to Woodward’s interview, starting with, “It never fails. Every time I put forth the unthinkable notion that homosexuals are human beings - as I did last week while praising students at UNCG for organizing “Coming Out Day” - the yahoos get riled up.”[7] One of the letters to Morris accused him of homosexuality for writing such a positive article, to which Morris replied, “You assume that anyone who supports the human dignity of homosexuals must be homosexual. Wrong. I support the human dignity of a number of groups to which I don’t belong…”[8] While more students were coming out, even though they were still facing attacks, allies to the LGBTQ+ community were doing so, as well.

Being attacked did not deter Morris’ coverage in the News and Record. A few months later in January of 1993, he reported on the creation of a hotline for gay teens.[9] The group that developed the hotline was Alternative Resources of the Triad (ART), founded in 1988. Brian Riggs, graduate student in the counseling program at UNC Greensboro, wrote the grant to fund the project with the support of Charlie Hawes, Episcopal priest of St. Mary’s House, adjacent to the campus of UNC Greensboro. The Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina awarded a small sum to Rigg’s proposal, allowing for the creation of the support resource that was the first of its kind in Greensboro area.[10] With more youth coming out, more support was needed. Although the grant was only for two hundred dollars, funding from a major organization, such as the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, was a major victory. Although personal acceptance of the LGBTQ + community was becoming common in the 1990s, institutional support, even ceremonial in nature, was lacking. UNC Greensboro would not confront this dilemma until forced to do so in 1996.   

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^[1] 1992 also was the year the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental illness.

^[2] Anubha Anand, “Dialogue with a Homosexual,” The Carolinian, April 16, 1992, UA42.4.01, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

^[3] Ibid.

^[4]Ibid.

^[5] Ibid.

^[6] Bill Morris, “Homosexuals Have Family Values, Too - UNCG Sophomore: No Rights in Closet,” Greensboro News and Record (Greensboro, NC), Oct. 13, 1992, p. B1.

^[7] Bill Morris, “Defense of Gays Unpopular with Yahoos - ‘Coming Out Day’ Strikes a Nerve,” Greensboro News and Record (Greensboro, NC), Oct. 22, 1992.

^[8] Ibid.

^[9] The article begins with the sentence, “I hope all you Southern Baptists are paying attention.”

^[10] Bill Morris, “Church Grant to Help Gay Teens Will Create Hot Line,” Greensboro News and Record (Greensboro, NC), Jan. 4, 1993, p. B1.

Chronicling the Founding of the UNCG LGBT Student Organization (1971-1975)

Carolinian, Oct. 4, 1971 (p.7)

Although our University enjoys the benefits of a culture promoting equality and inclusivity, UNCG’s reputation for embracing diversity as an educational foundation was constructed over decades by student and staff advocacy. Among the more hidden stories of Civil Rights struggles at UNCG is that of the formation of a university-acknowledged student organization for LGBTQ students.

There are few records on the lives and activities of the University’s LGBTQ students, but the first evidence for the need of such an organization on campus can be found as early as 1971. By this time, the university had been reorganized as a co-educational institution, and although there is some evidence of a lesbian student population on campus for several decades (1), discrimination against gay male students provoked the first plea for tolerance in the student newspaper:

Last year it was decided by some members of the fraternity and a few other males that their image was being threatened by the gay men on campus. It was felt that those gay men were becoming too blatant to be tolerated. They had the audacity to be themselves occasionally...

There was some talk among the homosexuals of starting a gay liberation movement here at school. When this “uppity” talk reached the ears of the other men they decided to act. They all got drunk and set about threatening people with violence. (2) 

It would be unlikely that the victims of such bullying would be willing to report threats, as homosexuality was not (and still is not) a protected class of minority by state law. Additionally, as homosexuality was officially classified as a mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association during this time, there was no pressure for University officials to investigate such situations.  However, the landscape for gay rights shifted in 1973, when the APA removed homosexuality from the list of diagnosable mental illnesses. It did not take long for LGBTQ students to organize, and by 1974, a “gay political social group” was forming on campus.

In November of 1974, a flier promoting the first meeting of a gay student organization was attached to a bulletin board in the School of Music. This flier was brought to the attention of Jim H. Allen, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Chancellor James S. Ferguson. In a letter to the Office of the UNC System President, Bill Friday, Allen requested for legal advice, asking:

• What are the state statues for dealing with homosexuality?
• What statutory prohibitions, if any, are there regarding the funding of a homosexual organization out of student activity fees?
• May it be argued that to provide meeting space on the campus for a homosexual organization is to provide a form of support through the public revenues…?

In response, David N. Edwards, Jr., Special Assistant to the Office of the President, advised Allen that withholding institutional support from a student organization meeting the necessary requirements would be legally precarious, providing citations from three federal cases in which the court overruled university prohibitions against gay student organizations. Essentially, a gay student organization, with a mission to support its members and to educate the public, does not pose a danger to the campus or inherently violate university regulations. Also, the cases of the federal court overturning the prohibitions of other universities provided the administration of UNCG with legal support in permitting a gay student organization, should dissension arise from formal recognition.

The documentation formally requesting the recognition of the Gay Student Union of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro was submitted and approved in 1979, with Rev. Joe Flora, Presbyterian Pastor for Campus Ministries, as the faculty adviser. The stated mission of the organization was:

• To educate the public about legal, social and personal aspects of homosexuality
• To provide a support system for those in the organization
• To represent the homosexual portion of the student body in matters relevant to homosexual students

The initial meeting of the Gay Student Union occurred in September 25, 1979, but the first meeting as a university-recognized organization occurred one month later, on October 25^th. (3-4) Unfortunately, there is not a record of the founding members of the organization, but the initiative of these students established a network of support for LGBTQ students that has lasted over 30 years.

The Gay Student Union underwent many changes and overcame many obstacles over its history. The organization encountered many challenges through the 1980s well into the 1990s, but the struggles have led to the cultivation of a campus culture of support and advocacy. In fact, the 2012 Homecoming included the first homecoming for UNCG’s LGBTQA Alumni. As stated by attending Alumni, it was their first “homecoming-out.”

(1) Oral history interview with Key L. Barkley, 1991 [OH003]. UNCG Centennial Oral History Project Collection, Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

(2) "The Last Liberation," The Carolinian, October 4, 1971 [UA42.4.01]. Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

(3) "Gay Academic Union Formed," The Carolinian, October 30, 1979 [UA42.4.01]. Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

(4) "Corrections," The Carolinian, November 6, 1979 [UA42.4.01]. Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.

Off the Record: sharing the story of the LGBTQ+ history of UNCG

University Archives is beginning the celebration of UNC Greensboro's PRIDE Month with the story of our LGBTQ+ history in the words of our current students, alumni, and faculty. In April of 2017, the University Libraries and the Office of Intercultural Engagement sponsored a panel of volunteers, who identify as LGBTQ+. The perspective of the LGBTQ+ history of UNC Greensboro, based upon these panelists, spans from the 1970s until present, elaborating upon the gap-filled evidence represented in the university's historical record.

[This video is closed caption enabled]

This panel, “Off the Record: sharing the story of the LGBTQ+ history of UNCG,” is inspired by the oral history project underway as part of the 125th anniversary of the opening of the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNC Greensboro). With Chancellor Gilliam’s sponsorship, the University Archives of UNC Greensboro Libraries is conducting a two year project (2016-2018) of oral history interviews. This ambitious project hopes to capture oral histories from a wide variety of interviewees with connections to UNC Greensboro, such as faculty, administrators, alumni, staff, and current students.

Of the 19,000 students enrolled at UNC Greensboro (at the time of the panel), the school's Fall 2016 ACHA-National College Health Assessment (NCHA) estimated that 23 percent of these students self-identify as nonheterosexual or nongender-binary.

Panelists: Dane Hansen; Kathleen Williams; James V. Carmichael, Jr.; Jay Poole; Zachary Johnson
Moderator: Stacey Krim

For more information about the LGBTQ+ history of UNC Greensboro, please see:

• Chronicling the Founding of the LGBT Student Organization (1971-1975)
• "Gays Go Home" -- The Strong Hall Protest of 1979
• His Name Was Kenneth Crump
• Fighting to Make a Statement: The Struggle for UNCG's Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Clause
• Dark Shadows, Deep Closets

The Black Power Forum, Fifty Years Later

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the Black Power Forum that was held at UNCG from November 1-3, 1967. 

Throughout the 1960s, Greensboro served as a key site for the civil rights movement. After the Sit Ins and protests of the early 1960s, the middle of the decade saw the ideals of black self-determination and pride being spread throughout Greensboro and the nation. The term “Black Power” first entered the national consciousness through Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael’s speech at the March Against Fear in 1966. Black Power soon became known as a movement for solidarity within the African American community and the fight for racial independence.

Agenda for November 1, 1967,
the first day of the Black Power Forum

While students at North Carolina A&T University often stood as leaders in the movement, discussions were not limited to the area’s historically black colleges and universities. On November 1-3, 1967, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro played host to a controversial Black Power Forum, organized in large part by African American students and members of the UNCG Student Government Association to “inform students and faculty members of this movement and its actions and to give us a chance to discuss Black Power, its history, its political and social implications for us and the nation.” 

The forum was organized around three topics: “Black Power past and present,” “the ghetto,” and “Black Power and the self-image of the Negro.” Speakers from across the country were brought in for presentations and discussions held in Cone Ballroom. Attendance the first day was judged “poor” with fewer than 75 attendees at the initial session, but by Thursday evening attendance had grown to 800. A UNCG report summarizing activities after the conclusion of the Forum noted “that off-campus people outnumbered UNCG students and faculty, that they were primarily Negroes and males, that a considerable number of them seemed to be sympathetic toward the concepts of Black Power, and that they often expressed their feelings with applause or cheers.”

The Forum did not occur without controversy. Editorials and essays declared that the University had been “used” by activists with a specific agenda. Rumors abounded that Ku Klux Klan members planned to attend the Forum, and UNCG Chancellor James Ferguson was forced to ask police officers with the City of Greensboro to attend each of the scheduled sessions to “guard against possible trouble.”

Black Power Forum participants, 1967

Additionally, administrators expressed concern that the sessions “did not produce a detached, objective examination of the ideas of Black Power but were given over to vigorous exhortations in support and advocacy of the movement.” But they could not deny that the Forum provided students with a learning opportunity. As stated in the UNCG report, “today’s students, today’s citizenry in general must learn all they can about the nature of Black Power and the forces that brought it into being. They need to be aware of the task before them. Above all, they should not wait until a crisis develops – until there is a riot in the streets – to gain knowledge of this troublesome subject.”

The Black Power Forum also served as a catalyst for the founding of the Neo-Black Society in Fall 1968. As Marie Darr Scott (class of 1970) noted in her 2011 oral history interview, "this Black Power Forum was just—I mean, it just opened up a whole new thought and mind for the black students at UNCG ... Not everyone got involved but almost all of the black students were interested in forming a black student organization on campus." 

Empowerment Through Song: The Neo-Black Society Gospel Choir

 The Neo-Black Society has several committees which focus on individual opportunities related to the promotion of African American culture, academic success, and community engagement. One of these committees formed the NBS Gospel Choir, which is considered the oldest continuing subgroup of the Neo-Black Society.

The NBS Gospel Choir was created in 1968 by three members of the Neo-Black Society in order to promote community outreach through song. The Neo-Black society records state that, in the 1980s, the group had over 100 active members. The choir continues to be an active part of the larger NBS organization.

NBS Gospel Choir Members from 1985, seen in 1985-86 Pine Needles yearbook.

The choir is one of several performance committees within the Neo-Black Society. Other performance committees include the Drama Troupe and Dance Troupe. These committees have worked together on numerous occasions and were required, by NBS rules, to perform at least once per semester. The NBS Choir has numerous engagements throughout the school year including performances at campus, community events, and church functions. Many of the events incorporate themes relating to political awareness and community outreach. The choir also incorporated sub-committees for political awareness in their everyday activities. They also travel to other universities around North Carolina for performances.

The NBS Choir President acts as a representative for the overall NBS organization. In the past, the Choir President was also required to review all proposed performance engagements. According to NBS records, the President was also listed as being responsible for the actions of the choir members in order to ensure that activities reflected well on the Neo-Black Society and UNC Greensboro as a whole.

Photo of the NBS Gospel Choir, from 1989.

In 1988, the NBS Choir sought to record an album with producer David Allen and Joyful Music Productions. For the album, the choir chose previously recorded music as well as new works by composers from the Triad and Charlotte. Proceeds from the sale were set to be used for a scholarship fund, the purchase of new robes, and continuing projects. Unfortunately, it took quite a while for the group to receive the finished album which affected how the funds could be used.

Photo of the NBS Gospel Choir from 2002.

In 2001, NBS Gospel Choir lost SGA funding due to the religious nature of their performances. In order to continue to fund their activities, the choir increased their fundraising efforts and seem to have lessened their performance commitments. Their main concern for the funding at the time were travel costs as the group had several engagements outside of the Carolinas.

The NBS Gospel Choir continues to be active and serve the UNCG and Triad community in many ways. The majority of their performances encourage collaboration between other universities and NBS performance groups. The Neo-Black Society has several events throughout the year, including NBS Week in November, and activities during Black history Month in February.

This article was written by Sara Maeve Whisnant, a graduate student in the LIS program and student worker in SCUA.

Tate Street: Evolving to serve a changing community

Tate Street, UNCG's original "campus strip" was originally two streets: Tate Street north of Walker Avenue and Lithia Street to the south. By 1923, when most of the area's commercial development was beginning, both sections shared the same name. The shopping area was targeted at a pedestrian population and included chain grocery stores such as Pender's (330 Tate Street), Piggly Wiggly (337 Tate Street), and Bi-Rite (403 Tate Street); Franklin Drugs (401 Tate Street); Hart's Hardware and Appliances (336 Tate Street); and the Donut Dinette (332 Tate Street). The Victory Theatre, later the Cinema, operated in the now-abandoned building at 326 Tate Street that most recently housed Addams University Bookstore.

As the adjacent Woman's College grew, the Tate Street "strip" became more campus-oriented. Longtime tenants such as The Corner, a soda fountain and variety store located at the corner of Tate Street and Walker Avenue and The College Shop, a clothing store across the street at 413 Tate Street, anchored the district. By the 1950s, Bi-Rite was the only remaining grocer, but it was still offering a full range of meats and produce through the early 1980s, when it was replaced by the current convenience store at the site.

Tate Street, 1963,
from Greensboro City Directory

As Woman's College became the coeducational University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1963, and as campus attitudes liberalized throughout the decade, Tate Street began to see the appearance of bars and other nightspots. Among the earliest were the original Joker's 3 at 449 Tate Street, a converted house that had previously housed a women's clothing store, and the Apple Cellar, a coffeehouse located in the basement of the Apple House diner. Later in the 1960s, the area in front of Brown Building, then home to the UNCG School of Music, would become known as "Hippie Hill", a hangout for the psychedelic generation that caused university and city officials much consternation.

In 1971, the Apple House diner, which had been the site of segregation battles, was replaced by Hong King House, a Chinese restaurant that served vegetarian dishes; this space is now Boba House. Nearby, Friar's Cellar, a much-loved wine shop and small grocery store began a several-decade run in the building at 334 Tate Street that now houses Tate Street Coffee. Around the same time, the row of shops of the east side of Tate Street added a new, unified façade as part of a project to "modernize" the street and give it more the feel of a suburban shopping center. This was also the genesis of the unusual parking arrangement on the street. Franklin Drugs relocated around this time to a new two-story building with a small parking garage attached at 948 Walker Avenue.

Next door to Bi-Rite in 1971 was a restaurant called Pizzaville (407 Tate Street) that would by the end of the decade be transformed into Friday's, a restaurant by day and venue for new alternative bands by night that hosted some of the earliest performances by R.E.M. and the Violent Femmes as well as local acts like Treva Spontaine and the Graphics. Friday's closed on 11 December 1983 with an unannounced performance by R.E.M., who by this time had "outgrown" the small club and were generally playing in larger venues. Subway and Leon's Style Salon now occupy the space,

Tate Street, ca. 1971

With Friday's and the dawn of the 1980s, Tate Street became a very active area for nightlife and live music in general. The old Piggly Wiggly, later a clothing store called The Cupboard, now became New York Pizza. The Apple Cellar coffeehouse became the Nightshade Café, another live music venue. Upon its closing in the early 1980s, the Cinema Theatre was replaced by the House of Pizza Cinema, a restaurant and bar that featured stereo broadcasts of the new MTV Music Television channel on multiple monitors. Also on the street were the Belstone Fox (329 Tate Street), a bar and live music venue, and Mr. Rosewater's, a restaurant and bar located in the former home of the original Joker's Three. Around 1983, the College Shop closed and was replaced by the Galaxy video arcade.

Recorded music was also a big part of Tate Street's appeal, starting with the opening of the Record Exchange (330 Tate Street), one of the first record stores in Greensboro specializing in independent and imported releases as well as used records and tapes. In 1983, Platterpus Records opened at 335 Tate Street as Greensboro's first record rental store; this short-lived format allowed customers to rent records, which were then sold as used merchandise. Record companies were incensed due to the potential for piracy. Copying of a different sort was facilitated by one of the state's first Kinko's locations, which opened around 1984 in the old Franklin Drug location at 401 Tate Street.

There was new construction on Tate Street in the 1980s as well, including a the block of shops at 427-435 Tate Street that initially included a Burger King and a Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop. This block of stores replaced a large old abandoned house and is now home to Coffeeology and Don Japanese Restaurant.  Around 1990, the building next door, which had housed the original Joker's Three and had later served as Mr. Rosewater's and The Edge nightclub was torn down for a relocated and expanded Kinko's, which remains there today as FedEx Office.

Nightspots became less common on Tate Street once the national drinking age was raised to 21 beginning in 1985 and the strip entered something of a decline even in the midst of a gentrification in the surrounding neighborhood. The House of Pizza Cinema closed and was replaced by Addams University Bookstore in the late 1980s; Addams closed around 2013.

Restaurants are now more common that bars on Tate Street. There is now a Qdoba located in the former Hop-In convenience store and a Jimmy John's where the College Shop once operated. New York Pizza is still open, though it closed briefly after a fire several years ago. A succession of Mexican restaurants have occupied what was formerly office space about the 1970s Franklin Drug location facing Walker Avenue, and Sushi Republic now occupies a former gas station at the northeastern edge of the strip.

Tate Street has proved to be very adaptable in its service of the adjacent campus and community.

A History of Disability Services at UNCG

In the early years of the State Normal and Industrial School (now UNCG) the 1890s, one of the admission requirements was that students must be "in good health." Of course, "good health" was never clearly defined by these requirements. In the papers of our second President Julius Foust, we have a letter concerning a potential student who was diabetic. She was denied admission to the school because it was decided that her health wasn’t "good."

From that time, we jump the story forward to the 1970s. Unfortunately, little documentation exists in University Archives to shed light on any policy changes or accommodations for special needs that may have existed in the in-between years.

UNCG Disabilities Student Services
brochure cover,
circa 1990

The Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 surely spurred the greatest change to campus accessibility. It is generally regarded as the first national civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. In fact, much of the language used was the same as that used in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Section 504 in particular had a strong impact on the campus at UNCG and other public and private colleges and universities across the United States. This Section declared that "No otherwise qualified person with a disability should be denied access to, the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination by any institution or entity receiving federal financial assistance." In Subpart E, it continued by emphasizing that colleges and universities must make appropriate academic adjustments and reasonable modifications to policies and practices in order to allow the full participation of students with disabilities in the same programs and activities available to non-disabled students.

These regulations became effective in 1977, and colleges and universities were provided with a compliance schedule that they had to prove they were meeting. Immediate compliance in terms of accessibility to programming was required. In response, Chancellor Ferguson named the Vice Chancellor for Administration – Charles D. Hounshell – as UNCG’s compliance officer, making him responsible for facilitating the school’s compliance with the Federal Rehabilitation Act. Soon thereafter, the University complied with another required part of the implementation of the law by issuing a memorandum to all faculty, staff, and students regarding the institution’s commitment to non-discrimination. The memo read: "The University of North Carolina at Greensboro reaffirms its policy not to discriminate on the basis of handicap in the programs or activities which it operates."

Accessibility of course content was a key component of compliance that had to be met by the start of the 1977-1978 school year. The law required schools to make reasonable accommodations to facilitate studying, working, and living activities on campus so that all people can participate in them fully. A 1979 brochure focused on "Services for Students with Special Needs" listed a number of campus services available to provide "equal opportunities for academic achievement to all students." Included is mention of "special services and equipment" available in Jackson Library, a "reader service" for visually impaired students, and "interpreting services" for hearing-impaired students..

Administrators also began examining physical accessibility on campus. In September 1977, Facilities Services requested an allocation of the capital improvement funds for the year to assist in the "removal of barriers for handicapped people." Major issues existed on campus that limited access to key services. Offices such as Academic Advising, Adult Student Services, the Cashier’s Office, and many campus administrators were located in a building which had "very deficient access to many handicapped people and no access for people in wheelchairs." This funding was key in order to comply with another aspect of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, which stated that, by June 1980, "reasonable" accommodations must be made to structures to ensure access to classrooms, dormitories, dining areas, student services offices, and other key areas of the university.

Dr. Diane Cooper

In July 1985, UNCG hired Dr. Diane Cooper to a dual position as both "international student advisor and coordinator of handicapped student services" [note: responsibilities for coordinating international student services were delegated to the newly-created International Student Services Office in April 1988]. With her hiring, responsibility for adhering to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 shifted to Cooper. Two years later, in 1987, over 100 students with physical or learning challenges were receiving assistance from Cooper's office. Cooper also provided workshops for faculty and staff on "Working with Disabled Students." These workshops covered "a basic understanding of various disabling conditions," "accommodation techniques used in classrooms and activities," and "resources available for working with students who are disabled."

In 2013, the Office of Disability Services received approval for a name change to the Office of Accessibility Resources and Services (OARS). OARS continues to "provide, coordinate, and advocate for services which enable undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities to receive equal access to a college education and to all aspects of university life." In addition to providing adaptive technology, interpreter, note taker, alternative testing, and other services, OARS staff members work to broaden "disability awareness within the university community."