Yale rejects proposal to establish endowed gay studies professorship

Alumnus Larry Kramer, who is a playwright and AIDS activist, has accused Yale University of homophobia after is dismissed his gay studies proposal. Playwright and gay activist Larry Kramer has accused Yale University of homophobia after the school refused to accept his multi-million dollar offer to endow a tenured professorship in gay studies. Kramer, who graduated from Yale in 1957, helped found the Gay Men's Health Crisis support group in 1981 and created the AIDS activist organization Act Up -- a group which has become known for exploits such as interrupting trading on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in 1989. In a letter to Kramer, Yale Provost Alison Richard said the university rejected his proposal because gay and lesbian studies in too narrow a field for a permanent professorship. She added that the university could not add a professorship without cutting another because there is also a freeze on faculty hiring. Richard said Yale's decision was based on the conviction that the faculty rather than the donor should be responsible for establishing tenured professorships. Two years ago, Yale rejected a $20 million gift from Texas billionaire Lee Bass to create a program in traditional Western thought. Richards said the fact that the university also dismissed this offer proves its recent actions were not homophobic. Kramer -- who is HIV positive -- first approached Yale with the proposal over nine months ago when he began to make out his will. He withdrew the offer last week after several meetings with Richard and said he is now considering establishing an independent foundation. "I have no question in my mind that my gift was rejected because of extreme homophobia" he said. "There's no question that Yale is not a friendly place for gay professors or teachers." Kramer explained that he wanted to make a contribution that would help gay students feel more comfortable at Yale than he did. During his freshman year, he tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. "I tried to kill myself because, as far as I was concerned, I was the only gay kid on the face of the earth," he said. Kramer conceded that Yale students can now turn to several campus support services, -- including a Lesbian and Gay Studies Center opened in 1987 -- but called the center a "hole in the wall." He complained that most gay studies courses at Yale are taught by nontenured or visiting professors and said gay students need gay professors they can turn to for advice. "If you are willing to teach African American history or women's studies, why are you not willing to teach gay studies?" he asked. "As we grow more and more visible, we want to use our money to teach about us." He explained that as an academic discipline, gay studies would focus on gay contributions to history, sociology, politics and culture as well as aspects of sexual identity. As a writer, he is best known for his novel Faggots and his play The Normal Heart. His screenplay adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love won him an Oscar nomination in 1970.

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