SGA: Ignoring the Student Body
This editorial, written by an anonymous member of the Scarlet and Black editorial team in the 1985-1986 academic year, renounces the choice of the SGA joint board to send a letter of support to Student Affairs urging them to provide the campus with a Gay Resource Center, for lacking student input and conflating the letter of support with establishing a Gay Resource Center outright. It asks why only a Gay Resource Center is being considered, pondering “where is the Women’s Resource Center? Where is the Jewish Resource Center, the Catholic Resource Center…” listing a number of groups the author thinks may need additional resources and support. This article takes a hostile stance towards SGA’s decision, suggesting a tense relationship between the S&B and SGA and the potentially controversial nature of gay rights at the time.
Scarlet and Black, “Human Resource Center Established: Tederman and Gays reach compromise”
Justin Lincoln, 1986
Documenting one of the most pivotal movements for the LGBTQ+ community at Grinnell College, the establishment of what would become the Stonewall Resource Center marks the beginning of institutional support for queer life on campus and the creation of a safe space for the queer community to gather. The center was initially called the Human Resource Center, which would contain a Gay Resource Center, as administrators, represented by Associate Dean of Student Affairs Jim Tederman, were concerned about the optics of calling the space a Gay Resource Center, and whether it would make straight students feel excluded or unwelcome in the space.
1989 HRC/GRC Annual Report
David Clark, 1989
This was the first end-of-year report compiled on the Stonewall Resource Center, then known as the Human/Gay Resource Center, by David D. Clark, the first director of the center. It contains a retrospective of the past three years since 1986, when it opened to students. It’s a comprehensive accounting of how the space was used, what events were held, and what improvements are needed after three years of operation.
One of the most interesting recommendations of the report is to remove the word gay from the center’s name, as Clark believed that it deterred straight students from using the space. He argues that while it will temporarily anger some gay activists on campus, it will promote further use of the space’s resources. It seems he didn’t win that battle, as the center was renamed the Stonewall Resource Center two years later, in 1991, solidifying the center’s purpose as a queer space by naming it after the Stonewall Uprising in New York City, which sparked the modern gay rights movement.
Stonewall Resource Center Monitor’s Handbook 1992-1993
George Morell, 1992
The Stonewall Resource Center was originally located in the Younker Medical Center, a now-demolished building that sat between where the Joe Rosenfield Center and East Campus now stand. It relied on volunteer monitors to maintain the space and its resources, which included a small library, a stereo and TV, and a kitchen space. This handbook notes the confidentiality of the space and encourages student monitors to direct guests to George Morell, the Director of the SRC. It seems that the space relied on having a volunteer monitor present in the space at all times, as it had rather limited hours.
The Constitution of the Stonewall Coalition of Grinnell College
StoneCo, 1993
The Stonewall Coalition served as the umbrella organization for students in the “Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Ally communities.” The first records on the organization appear in March of 1993, the same academic year this constitution is dated to. It defines three major focuses: Activism, Community, and Education. This tri-focus aimed to address the needs of the BGLA community on campus and engage with the broader movement for gay rights in the United States. They hosted an annual coming-out day celebration and a series of events for Pride Week, a tradition that was started by its predecessor, the Grinnell College Gay Community.
SRC 10th Anniversary VHS Tape
Unknown, 1996
This VHS tape is a recording from the SRC’s 10th anniversary on November 1st, 1996. The event was not covered in the Scarlet and Black, which was primarily consumed with covering a controversy around a racist and offensive mock ad that was placed in Grinnell Underground Magazine (GUM). We are now approaching the SRC’s 50th anniversary in 2026, having expanded and grown the queer community on Grinnell College’s campus even further.
Memo to Bill Deminoff from George Drake
Bill Deminoff, 1988
This series of internal college memos between Bill Deminoff, Director of College Relations, and George Drake, former President of Grinnell College, discusses an effort by Todd Shepherd ‘90 in 1988 to make gay students eligible for affirmative action under the college’s affirmative action policy. Todd Shepherd ‘90 argued that because he presented himself as an openly gay student, that should’ve been considered as a factor in a hiring decision where he was denied a position as a tour guide for the college by the Director of Admission at the time. While unsuccessful, this shows how gay students and movements in the 1980s tried to gain recognition for gay students as a marginalized group who deserved to be accepted in society.
March 9, 1989, Committee on Student Life Minutes
David Clark, 1989
This set of minutes from the Committee on Student Life discusses one of the larger controversies in queer history at Grinnell, where Melanie Cooley requested to live off campus with her ‘life-partner’, but because they were unable to get married in Iowa legally, they were ineligible for the college’s exception to living on campus for married couples. The Committee for Student Life drafted a policy that would’ve allowed gay students to get ceremonially married and be eligible for the exception despite not having a legally recognized marriage. President Drake, out of concern for heterosexual students taking advantage of the policy and a fear of Grinnell being perceived as a “gay school,” vetoed the policy and removed the exception to living on campus for married couples as underclassmen for all students. This sparked outrage across campus, including protests.