On Wednesday, Sept. 20, Young Hall residents at Point Loma Nazarene University received an email from the Dean of Students Jake Gilbertson, regarding an incident of homophobic vandalism that took place within the residence hall.
The email informed PLNU students that “f*** gays” was written on the door of a Young Hall resident, and “no gays allowed” was written on the hall whiteboard. PLNU is actively investigating this issue but does not yet have a confirmed suspect.
Chip Pitkin, resident director of Young Hall, was one of the first people to respond to the incident after the student reported it to resident assistants in the building.
Pitkin shared what resources PLNU students have available when they experience any form of discrimination on campus.
“Anytime there’s an incident of discrimination or bias, we do have a reporting system on campus,” said Pitkin. “It’s actually on Workday, anybody has access to it. You can report an incident of bias or discrimination anonymously to Point Loma. There’s basically a team of people that take that information in and start rolling out a response.”
In this particular situation, the student came directly to Residential Life (ResLife) staff, but all PLNU students have the option to anonymously report incidents if they do not want to speak with staff directly.
Pitkin said that he felt angry on behalf of the student.
“As a resident director, I certainly want to create the kind of space where we can talk to each other, we don’t have to agree but we can talk to each other and be respectful,” Pitkin said.
At the time the email was sent out to Young residents, the targeted student, third-year psychology major Michael Frausto, was anonymous. Later, Frausto reached out to The Point about going on the record regarding his experience.
Frausto said that he asked for the specific language that was written on his door and hall whiteboard to be included in the email sent out by Gilbertson.
“I really wanted ‘f*** gays’ as well as ‘no gays allowed in this hall’ in the email because I didn’t want the school to sugarcoat it,” Frausto said. “I wanted people when they read that [email], queer or not, to feel the pain that I felt in that moment.”
Frausto said that it holds a lot of weight when the truth is told.
“This is the reality I live in, and there’s no way around it,” Frausto said. “This is what happened on our campus, and I could care less if this tarnishes their [PLNU’s] reputation. I just wanted them to be like, this is my reality, and this is what is happening on campus. It’s nothing to hide.”
Frausto said that he suspects other incidents like this might have happened on campus before, but that students didn’t feel comfortable speaking up. He said that the people who did this know nothing about his character, which really bothers him.
“They think I’m like the antichrist or something,” Frausto said. “Usually I don’t let this stuff get to me, but just because of how heavy it was, like when ‘f**k gays’ is written [on my door], it’s almost like they want our whole existence to disappear. That’s how I felt.”
Frausto expressed the importance of branching out and learning about the reality of his and other people’s experiences in the LGBTQ community.
“I don’t walk around anymore thinking there are people who are out to get me because of my sexuality,” Frausto said. “ I’m a human, I’m multifaceted, and that’s how I’ve allowed myself to branch out to so many other people who probably hadn’t even imagined being friends with someone of the LGBTQ community.”
In an interview with The Point, Gilbertson acknowledged the pain experienced by the LGBTQ+ community on campus.
“Clearly LGBTQ+ students on our campus experience microaggressions, homophobia and challenges being on our campus,” Gilbertson said. “So as important as it is to send that [email] out, I also know that it’s deeply painful.”
Gilbertson said despite this, sending the email was important. He also expressed the significance of campus conversations in order to elevate the experience of queer students, which makes the campus a place where acts of homophobia are intolerable. Gilbertson also commented on the importance of finding spaces of belonging, like Voices of Love at PLNU. Voices of Love is not an official ASB (associated student body) funded club, but is a student organization for queer students and allies on campus.
“[American writer] Brené Brown says that trust is built in layers, but is eroded really quickly through really painful moments,” Gilbertson said. “This is hard, because it both erodes trust in Point Loma as a place because something like this happened, but hopefully it also can build layers of trust back up as the university responds in a way that says we actually do care about this.”
Gilbertson said PLNU is continuing to investigate the situation and they want to make sure that whoever is responsible is held accountable.
“We want to make sure that it’s clear that this kind of thing cannot happen on our campus. It’s antithetical to our mission and who we want to be as a community,” Gilbertson said.
To report an incident of bias or discrimination on campus, visit https://www.pointloma.edu/bias?market_source=vp. To contact Public Safety for unsafe situations that require an immediate response, call (619) 849-2525. To learn more about Voices of Love, visit https://www.instagram.com/plnu_vol/
