MARCH 16-22, 2011 IT WAS A GOOD WEEK FOR …
TAX CUTS. Democrats and Republicans worked out a $35 million package of tax cuts. It’s a pittance against the quarter of a billion of tax increases that the highway builders hope to get separately. But pittance is good when essential state services are strained to the breaking point and the Tea Party kill-government cry sounds so loudly. ATTORNEY GENERAL DUSTIN MCDANIEL. His office has now entered the fray with calm and correct testimony about the unconstitutionality of a spate of anti-abortion bills Republicans have introduced to attempt to end availability of legal abortion in Arkansas. ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE PUBLISHER WALTER HUSSMAN. He sold the old Gazette building, valued at $1.1 million when he purchased the paper from Gannett, for $5.3 million to the eStem charter school, which had been leasing it from him. Hussman is one of the leading supporters of eStem and other charter schools. He’d loaned the school more than $3 million, at 6 percent, to improve the building. TAX INCREASES. See Max Brantley’s column. IT WAS A BAD WEEK FOR …
LEGISLATIVE HYPOCRITES. (Nearly all of them.) The blog Blue Hog Report provided rich detail on the pay supplements, likely unconstitutional, drawn by nearly all legislators. Particularly embarrassing were copies of the bogus bills for consulting services — from themselves — that lawmakers submitted for reimbursement. Republicans stood out because they cashed the smelly checks amid continuing attacks on tiny state spending increases, as small as $6,000 for the Arkansas School for the Deaf. SECRETARY OF STATE MARK MARTIN. With a fleet of state cars at his disposal, he bought a new car for state Board of Apportionment use without approval of the other two members of the board, Gov. Mike Beebe and Attorney General Dustin McDaniel. He also hired one employee and one consultant – both Republican operatives – to do board work. Lawful, lowcost government from the self-styled reformer this was not. 8 MARCH 23, 2011 • ARKANSAS TIMES
The Arkansas Reporter
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Solve for XX + XY Hendrix to institute limited ‘gender-neutral’ housing for LGBT students. BY DAVID KOON
n Hendrix College in Conway will offer housing next fall for students who are openly gay or are questioning their sexuality. The “gender-neutral” student housing program is expected to make life a bit easier for students uncomfortable in a dormitory. Students who have applied for the program say it’s an important step, and a testament to the school’s inclusiveness. The pilot program will offer up to six two-person apartments that will be assigned without preference to gender while making an effort to select for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, and hetero students who are comfortable living with an LGBT roommate. Unlike other student housing, each of the gender-neutral apartments will have two bathrooms, one for each resident. The application deadline was March 4. Administrators say that the program may be expanded if it’s a success. Jim Wiltgen, dean of students at Hendrix, said the college began studying the possibility of instituting limited genderneutral housing at the request of underclassmen who were studying gender issues. After some exploration of the topic, the college found only one other school of similar size to Hendrix that offers genderneutral housing. Hendrix will be the only college in Arkansas to offer gender-neutral housing for gay and lesbian students. Wiltgen called the application process for the housing “gender-blind,” though it does have optional check boxes where an applicant can identify his or her biological sex and “gender identity.” “We don’t ask invasive questions on the application, like whether they’re considering a gender [reassignment] operation,” Wiltgen said. “All we do is ask open-ended questions about why are you interested in this option, what makes you a candidate for this option, and then just describe your level of comfort with gender issues and sexual orientation.” Those questions, Wiltgen said, are to make sure the applicant is committed to the program. He said the college will ask those who assigned to gender-neutral housing to give feedback throughout the year. Wiltgen said the gender-neutral apartments will probably be on Clifton Street just off the western edge of the campus. The program is not available to first-year students. Though the process allows applicants to request a particular roommate, couples
BRIAN CHILSON
THE WEEK THAT WAS
LOGAN LEATHERMAN: A Hendrix junior says LGBT students are sometimes forced into uncomfortable living situations. involved in a relationship — no matter what their sexual orientation — shouldn’t take it as a chance to shack up. “If you’re in a relationship, we wouldn’t want you to be in that housing together,” Wiltgen said. “For students, it’s a tough enough relationship with roommates as it is. To add any kind of romantic entanglement wouldn’t be advisable.” Aaron Aldridge, a 19-year-old freshman at Hendrix, has applied for genderneutral housing for next fall. Aldridge, who is openly gay, said that living in mostly-straight student housing has its difficulties. “There is kind of this unspoken nature of all of it,” he said. “If you have a guy over at the dorm, it’s kind of uncomfortable — whether you introduce them as a friend, or someone you’re dating. It’s an uncomfortable thing to talk about on top of the fact that I just don’t really mesh with [heterosexual] guys that well.”
Aldridge said there was some confusion on campus early on over whether the housing was open only to transgender students. Once he looked into it, however, he learned that it was open to anyone and applied. Asked whether allowing gay and straight students the option to reside apart is a good thing, given that one aspect of college life is learning to live with those who aren’t like you, Aldridge said it might have its disadvantages, but the quality of life for gay students who might not be comfortable outweighs that for him. “I understand the value of being able to adapt to different situations,” he said. “But I really do like the prospect of having the option open for somebody [whose housing is] affecting their ability to do well in their classes and affecting their ability to be happy and proper as far as their personal Continued on page 13