My name is Nikki Halstead, and I am a Freshman at Juniata College: a small, private, liberal arts school located in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. I am a full-time student, Resident Assistant, a Phon-a-Thon employee for the Juniata Scholarship Fund, and a driven activist for anything and everything that sparks a deep passion in me. This is a blog created to inform, inspire, and encourage students, faculty, and everyone else who wants to get involved with improving the environments in which we live. For too long, people have been sweeping very important issues under the political rug in order to cover up the truth. Now is time to get rid of that rug (it's out-of-date, anyway).
This is my story.
Exactly one week ago, on January 24th of 2012, a gentleman whom I’ve never seen on campus before pushed me down the stairs in one of Juniata’s academic buildings right as I was leaving a class because I was dressed “too masculine”. After pushing me in the stairway, he proceeded to say (direct quotation), “you need a dick in your mouth to be set straight,” and walked away. There I was, shocked out of my mind, sitting on the dirty floor of Good Hall at a college that boasts about its diversity and I am being judged simply because of the way I express my gender and my sexual orientation.
After it happened, I reported it with the Public Safety here on campus, who sent a report to the Dean of Students’ office for further analysis. After talking to countless faculty members, authority figures, and a spectrum of students in this short week, I have discovered many things about Juniata that are not widely known or spoken about and are, in my eyes, unacceptable. To begin, Juniata's non-discrimination policy does not include gender identity and expression (not to mention that the town of Huntingdon does not even have a non-discrimination policy whatsoever), and they have absolutely no intentions of changing that any time soon. Along with this, their "Gender-Neutral Housing Policy" is the absolute bare minimum any institution could uphold, having a single floor in one dorm and the suites available for this specific housing. Along with this, the application process behind this is strenuous and corrupt as I have heard straight from the mouths of my peers.
Juniata College: this is not okay.
Along with finding unsettling information about this college, I have learned about other students' stories about being mistreated, misguided, and hurt in many different ways by the choices made by this institution. In one instance, two students were banned from living on campus for simply being who they are because someone else was uncomfortable with their lifestyle. These students are not by any means criminals, nor did they deserve this treatment. In fact, they are very intelligent, respectable human beings who were initially misunderstood and then dealt with in the quickest way possible.
Although this certain instance involved the gay community, this is NOT NOT NOT just about LGBTQ issues. These policies affect everyone here. Do you think you can get into gender-neutral housing because you're a cis-gendered male? Think again. Another student here at J.C. was turned down, along with his seven other friends, because they "did not fit the criteria for gender-neutral housing," which he later found out meant that none of them were "gender-confused" or were LGBTQ in any way. How ridiculous is that?
As members of a Juniata community, we need to be so much more aware of our surroundings, and we need to take action while we have the chance. The time is now.
Starting now, I will be recording the procedures I do and the stories I hear in the process of starting change here at Juniata. Hopefully, it helps not only me with sorting out my ideas, but also with people here and in similar situations to take the initiative and risk and change what needs to be changed.
Do not just sit and listen to my story. Get out there and be involved with me. I will be with you until the very end.
And so it begins.
-N.
This is my story.
Exactly one week ago, on January 24th of 2012, a gentleman whom I’ve never seen on campus before pushed me down the stairs in one of Juniata’s academic buildings right as I was leaving a class because I was dressed “too masculine”. After pushing me in the stairway, he proceeded to say (direct quotation), “you need a dick in your mouth to be set straight,” and walked away. There I was, shocked out of my mind, sitting on the dirty floor of Good Hall at a college that boasts about its diversity and I am being judged simply because of the way I express my gender and my sexual orientation.
After it happened, I reported it with the Public Safety here on campus, who sent a report to the Dean of Students’ office for further analysis. After talking to countless faculty members, authority figures, and a spectrum of students in this short week, I have discovered many things about Juniata that are not widely known or spoken about and are, in my eyes, unacceptable. To begin, Juniata's non-discrimination policy does not include gender identity and expression (not to mention that the town of Huntingdon does not even have a non-discrimination policy whatsoever), and they have absolutely no intentions of changing that any time soon. Along with this, their "Gender-Neutral Housing Policy" is the absolute bare minimum any institution could uphold, having a single floor in one dorm and the suites available for this specific housing. Along with this, the application process behind this is strenuous and corrupt as I have heard straight from the mouths of my peers.
Juniata College: this is not okay.
Along with finding unsettling information about this college, I have learned about other students' stories about being mistreated, misguided, and hurt in many different ways by the choices made by this institution. In one instance, two students were banned from living on campus for simply being who they are because someone else was uncomfortable with their lifestyle. These students are not by any means criminals, nor did they deserve this treatment. In fact, they are very intelligent, respectable human beings who were initially misunderstood and then dealt with in the quickest way possible.
Although this certain instance involved the gay community, this is NOT NOT NOT just about LGBTQ issues. These policies affect everyone here. Do you think you can get into gender-neutral housing because you're a cis-gendered male? Think again. Another student here at J.C. was turned down, along with his seven other friends, because they "did not fit the criteria for gender-neutral housing," which he later found out meant that none of them were "gender-confused" or were LGBTQ in any way. How ridiculous is that?
As members of a Juniata community, we need to be so much more aware of our surroundings, and we need to take action while we have the chance. The time is now.
Starting now, I will be recording the procedures I do and the stories I hear in the process of starting change here at Juniata. Hopefully, it helps not only me with sorting out my ideas, but also with people here and in similar situations to take the initiative and risk and change what needs to be changed.
Do not just sit and listen to my story. Get out there and be involved with me. I will be with you until the very end.
And so it begins.
-N.
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