On April 29, many queer students joined the newly formed Students Concerned for Community in a protest on McCullough Green. Approximately 200 students demanded that President McCardell publicly admit racism and homophobia on the Middlebury campus and that he establish a Diversity Affairs office to provide advocacy and support for underrepresented groups at Middlebury. The President did admit racism and homophobia on campus, but took no further action. At press time, President McCardell has not yet released his decision on the establishment of a Gender Studies House. MOQA and house proposal authors Stephanie Hunt and Gwynn Guilford were told a decision would be reached on May 12.
Many students foresee greater obstacles for queer empowerment at the college.
There is no curriculum that supports affirming your value in the world. Activism remains a tough challenge for many Middlebury students. Middlebury is known for being one of the least politically active colleges in the nation. Many students who support change fear that the wave of activism will be difficult to sustain. A lot of us have in common the fact that we haven't done a lot of this and in order to cultivate it we need to do it all the time, not just one day.