University Daily Kansan, November 12, 1982 Page 9
Faculty stay in closet Gavs fear rejection, says prof
By STEVE CUSICK
Staff Reporter
A KU professor who publicly acknowledged his homosexuality long ago said recently many gay faculty members at the University of Kansas feared "coming" he would endanger their co-creator and leave them rejected by colleagues and friends.
Michael Storms, chairman of the psychology department, estimated that 5 to 10 percent of the people in the United States were gay. He said the same percentage could apply to KU faculty.
But only a small portion of gay faculty members have become open about their sexual preference, he said. Because the majority, is still
"Definitely, the majority is still deeply in the closet," he said.
Volunteers at the Gay and Lesbian Services office in the Kansas Union said Storms' assessment was pretty accurate.
SHARON BUDD, who occasionally works at the gay services office, said that whether a faction member became a patron of an open-hearted dependant largely on the department.
The volunteers mentioned the School of Law and the School of Business as two schools where gay faculty might have problems about being open. The psychology department and other departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences might be more accepting, they said.
Storms said that although it might take a heavy psychological toll, many gay faculty members refused to reveal their sexual preference for "fear of losing their jobs and fear of being rejected by colleagues, friends and family."
Fears of being passed up for promotions and merit raises also arise, he
ALTHOUGH MANY of society's attitudes make it hard for gays to be open about their sexuki preferences, homosexuals often internalize the same
"It's a sad fact, but I think a lot of
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people are in the closest because of their own attitude toward themselves," he
He said many of those who remained secretive told themselves they would be able to come out later.
They say to themselves, "Well, I'll come out once I get myself established," he said.
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"But it turns out it works just the opposite. The more they have the more they think they have to lose in coming out."
Said one of the workers," The student really doesn't have to worry about the problem.
The worker also said gay faculty members sometimes stopped by the office.
FOR THAT reason, gay faculty members have a harder time revealing their sexual preferences than gay faculty members and workers from the gay services.
"Being in the closet is almost certainly a psychologically stressful situation."
STORMS AND a group of graduate students recently completed a study that revealed that gays who remained in the closest tended to be more neurotic.
But those who were open tended to be less neurotic than the average, he said.
Storms said the psychological costs of leading the double life of a close gay client were enormous.
"Some of the things that I was afraid would happen, have happened," he said, "but those events did not lead to anything. But that I was afraid they would lead to."
Coming out was worth it for Storms, he said.
According to theories, he said, "going through that process builds psychological resilience."
Storms who came into the open in 1973, said his homosexuality often was the cause.
WHEN HE begins teaching a class of 300, for example, he knows "that almost everybody in that class already knits it," he said.
That opens the door to a great deal
of potential rejection by students. I've had students react against me in the classroom."
classroom.
He said there also had been "individuals who have attempted to discriminate against me."
One time, he said, "a very small number of individuals objected to my being allowed to teach a human sexuality course. They thought I would
He was able to teach the class, he said, but "I sort of had to jump an extra hurdle that a heterosexual would not have had to jump."
have had to jump.
Few of the closet gay faculty members have turned to Storms for advice, he said.
"I have very little contact with those faculty who are in the closet," he said "On the contrary, they tend to shy away from me. They're afraid of guilt."
STORMS SAID the atmosphere at the University was no worse than other places in society for gays to reveal their sexual preference.
He said the University had taken steps to lessen the chance of discrimination against gays at KU. One of these is a stipulation in the University's affirmative action plan that prohibits discrimination based on sexual preference.
Robert Cobb, executive vice chancellor, said that that was all the University had to say about gay faculty members coming out of the closet.
"The University statement on it is the one contained in the affirmative action plan, no more, no less," he said. "So I tell students that they should not hibrate to nobilize their views or not."
KU IS NOT the only university where gay faculty members feel reluctant to come out, according to an Oct. 20 article in *The Chronicle of Higher Education*.
The article, reporting on the annual meeting of the Gay Academic Union, quoted participants at the conference as saying homosexual faculty members were revealing their sexual preference than homosexuals in society as a whole.
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Sizeler accepts Lawrence challenge
By DOUG CUNNINGHAM Staff Reporter
Tom Davidson, president of Sizerel Realty Co. Inc., presented at a public meeting last night what he saw as the "wish lists" of three parties to the proposed downtown redevelopment project.
Given ideal circumstances, Lawrence and its city officials probably would like to see no demolition of buildings for the project, no public financing, no parking garages and no existing downtown retail character.
Big department stores, which Davidson said were an essential part of any such project, would like a suburban location at the intersection of two highways more than adequate and a climate-controlled building.
THE BANKS and lenders that finance the project want to maximize their return and minimize their risk.
And Sizerel, the Louisiana developer chosen, Sept. 28 by the City Council.
for the project, must satisfy these groups, reconcile the various interests, make the project economically profitable and survive, he said.
"Ideally, I think the community would like to see the development limited to 200,000 to 250,000 square feet," he said.
He said Sizerley might be building too large a project if it followed its earlier projections for a project of 350,000 to 400,000 square feet.
DAVIDSON RESPONDED that 350,000 square feet probably would be a maximum fiure.
"We readily accept that challenge," Davidson told the 30 people at last night's meeting in City Hall.
Davidson said the redevelopment project could spur other investment in the downtown area.
"If we're successful — if we can do this — you're going to see a lot of other things happen downstown," he said.
his concerns was that the project not be too large.
Two people at the meeting presented fairly specific proposals of what they thought should happen.
ONE MAN SAID that a lot of land should be acquired and that a number of buildings should be demolished in order to make the project work.
Another said that much of the redevelopment should focus on Vermont Street and that as few businesses as possible should be forced to
John: Stainback, director of planning and urban design for the south central region of Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall, the architectural firm working with Sizerer on the project, said that Sizerer and DMJM would hold at least three public presentations before March 4.
Richard Kersenbaum, a resident of East Lawrence and a member of the Downtown Improvement Commission in selection Sizerel, said one of his
March 4 is the deadline for Sizerel to present to the city its formal redevelopment proposal, which it to include a design and design an initial financing plan.
One of the meetings will be in mid-December, he said, when Sizerel will present findings from his preliminary Lawrence and the downtown project.
Commission to study rural land use
The Douglas County Board of Commissioners yesterday approved a resolution that calls for a committee to study the problem of urban development in rural areas, said Beverly Bradley, commission chairman.
The committee will be appointed as quickly as possible, she said, but it is expected to study the issue for some time.
The committee is to advise the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Commission in developing ways to solve those problems.
According to the resolution, the committee, to be made up of county residents, will "study and identify rural land use issues and problems."
THE COUNTY COMMISSION recently decided that one proposed
solution to development in rural areas needed more study.
Two amendments to the city-county subdivision regulations had been proposed that would have required houses built in rural areas to be on lots of at least 40 acres.
However, that proposal was rejected, at least temporarily, when the county's legislature passed a bill to reintroduce it.
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1982-83
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