A lesbian graduate student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania is alleging that a classroom discussion on homosexuality turned into a personal attack.
Earlier this week, students held a rally against homophobia after an unnamed business professor allegedly told students that homosexuality was “disgusting, unnatural and abnormal.”
Christina Santiago, a student in IUP’s Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, said the teacher broached the topic of homosexuality after another student brought up the issue of sex changes.
“I felt attacked, bullied, singled out,” Santiago told a local news station. “I raised my hand and asked, ‘So are you saying that students like myself, who identify as homosexual, are disgusting, unnatural and abnormal?’ And the professor replied ‘yes.’”
Santiago told the station that the professor went on to remark that God created “Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam” and to complain about campus diversity training, which is voluntary for IUP faculty.
An IUP alum has since come forward to the media and said he heard the same professor make antigay remarks in the past, including that gays deserve to “burn in hell.”
The faculty union this week released a statement acknowledging that the “accusations are serious and need to be investigated by the university. At the same time, we advocate for the rights of the faculty and the processes for investigating complaints against faculty must be followed.”
According to the nondiscrimination policy on its website, “The university is committed to providing equal educational and employment rights to all persons without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or veteran’s status.”
Charges of homophobia were also recently leveled against a teacher in Union Township, N.J.
About 300 people turned out Tuesday night for the Union Township school board meeting to protest recent Facebook posts by high-school teacher Viki Knox.
Knox, a special-education teacher, earlier this month took to the social network to complain about a school display acknowledging LGBT History Month, calling homosexuality “a sin that breeds like cancer.”
A petition, circulated by Human Rights Campaign, was delivered to the board Tuesday and contained 75,000 signatures of those calling for Knox’s removal.
On a radio show the following day, Republican Gov. Chris Christie called Knox’s comments “disturbing” and said he wants to see an “examination” of Knox’s in-class behavior.
Knox is on administrative leave, and the school board Tuesday made no decision on her future employment status.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].