Grinnell Queer History Project

Alright‚ so first off‚ I'm Morgan Smith. This interview was conducted on February 5th‚ 2026 for the Grinnell Queer History Project. Thank you so much for being interviewed. Would you please introduce yourself kind of for the the recording. What's your name‚ class year‚ and where do you live now?

Bruce Koff '75: My name is Bruce Koff. I am class of 75 and I live in Chicago.

Morgan Smith '26: All right. What did you study and do you have a favorite professor or class while you were here?

Bruce Koff '75: And if so‚ what was it? Uh yeah‚ well I I majored in political science and um I uh probably my favorite I also got my secondary ed teaching certificate which I never used uh my I had a number of great classes but one of of the favorites was the one I had actually mentioned to you earlier‚ which is my 12 credit course in modern Russian society‚ which was taught with three professors in a class of maybe 15‚ 20 people‚ and it was an opportunity for me to learn how to look at a single nation through multiple lenses.

Morgan Smith '26: Excellent‚ yeah. Um can you describe your kind of main activities at Grinnell College‚ particularly in connection to queerness or student life on campus?

Bruce Koff '75: Sure. Well that kind of gets into my own personal history a little bit too‚ which I Happy to share if that's all right.

Morgan Smith '26: Absolutely.

Bruce Koff '75: Um so uh when I came to Grinnell I already knew that I was gay‚ but I was not this was in nineteen seventy one And uh so that was just two years after Stonewall. Um and I certainly was not in a place to um understand or certainly integrate that part of my identity in any way‚ nor was there really anything visible on campus to help me with that. So between my freshman and sophomore year‚ I really that really reached a crisis point which which I'm sure that many 19-year-olds experience even to this day. And so I became uh uh pretty depressed‚ suicidal even‚ and um actually decided uh I I had a summer where I finally um acknowledged to myself and to other people um that that I was gay and um and began to work on it with the assistance of some uh uh some actually good mental health intervention which had followed some bad mental health intervention‚ which I can go into later if you want me to. And so I stayed home my fresh‚ my second‚ my first semester of my sophomore year‚ attended Lake Forest College for that semester‚ because I didn't want to fall behind in credits‚ of course‚ and found the only therapy group in the city of Chicago. for gay men which was happening down at University of Chicago and I discovered there a number of wonderful uh men who uh essentially uh provided an i incredible assistance to me uh in coming to terms with being gay in 1972. I then came back I then uh came out to some friends here at Grunell and who were totally accepting and supportive. And then I returned to Grinnell my sophomore year. That was around the time that other people on campus were beginning to openly identify as gay or lesbian. We didn't use the word LGBTQ‚ the term LGBTQ at the time. And it so happened that there was a workshop sponsored by student affairs called the Sexual Attitude Reassessment Workshop‚ which was a workshop that lasted I think maybe a full day or maybe a day and a half‚ I can't remember. And it was for all students and it was an opportunity for students to learn how to talk openly about sexuality and sexuality. sexual matters. It probably couldn't be done these days as it was then‚ but there were opportunities to watch explicit films. of various types of sexual encounters and then uh talk about uh the impact that had on us and it was during that time that I met some other gay people on camera and uh one of whom was Stuart‚ who I mentioned to you‚ and uh uh who was an alum. and was living in Brooklyn‚ Brooklyn‚ Iowa. Yeah. And uh and so these people sort of formed uh the the beginning of uh Grinnell College Gay Community GCGC. I knew that there was something else going on around forming that with Reverend Haas. And I knew that there was a room that we could meet in‚ that's Steiner‚ to talk. And so I began to attend that. And at that time maybe there were ten or eleven people uh who were attending. Um and I became involved in what was then lovingly called GCG. And uh I became involved over the next two years in‚ along with others‚ um‚ in uh sort of leading some of the preliminary efforts to provide support to LGBTQ students on campus and to educate the campus community.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um how would you just kind of generally describe the atmosphere of um um or student culture at your during your time at Grinnell. Like what did it feel like? What were what was the vibe‚ I guess‚ to use a contemporary term.

Bruce Koff '75: Uh well let me I think In terms of in terms of gay stuff in particular or just in general?

Morgan Smith '26: Just in general or in relation‚ it's really up to what you'd like to

Bruce Koff '75: Sure. Well I'll give you some vignettes. Um so my uh so I arrived here in 1971. Uh there was a draft and our class‚ the class of 75‚ was the first class to not have a student deferment‚ which meant that we were susceptible to the draft and to be and to being sent to Vietnam. In Mears Hall in the basement‚ there was a draft counseling service run by students. And I made I availed myself of that. Um and the reason I bring that up is because it was a very activist um uh campus with students taking a great deal of responsibility. So the fact that that was a student-run draft counseling center‚ you know um was sort of the ethic on campus that which was wonderful because it meant that if there was something that was important to you you could create it you could create what you needed you know and And that was just one example. So when I uh when I came out on campus‚ um the idea of creating an organization to support the gay students on campus. So the LGBTQ students on campus was within that context‚ you know. And I would also mention that in hindsight‚ of course. that this was a time of activism generally. I mean it was part of women's liberation. There was a part of‚ you know‚ Stonewall had happened. Uh uh um the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations were ongoing. So the um the the notion of building a gay liberation movement Grinnell campus seemed perfectly reasonable and understandable and was frankly almost fully supported by the campus. community uh if not supported certainly tolerated but often supported and certainly supported by the faculty and the administration and there was never any there were a couple of I I think in my whole two and half or two and a half more years at Grinnell‚ there were maybe one or two incidents of what I would call homophobic response or homophobic reaction that were handled. But beyond that‚ um‚ it was a very supportive time and a good time to come out on campus.

Morgan Smith '26: If you care to talk about those‚ would you talk a little bit more about like what those look like? Like were they I feel like I might have seen an article in the SNB of someone expressing displeasure.

Bruce Koff '75: So we had our first dance. Yeah. Uh same sex dance in Loose Hall. And And uh someone whose name I will not give publicly threw a stink bomb into the garbage can. Uh and you know know‚ um made it a place that we couldn't dance. And he was identified and he was um compelled to publicly apologize. by SGA and uh I can't remember if there were other consequences for him. Uh nothing too severe. Yeah. But uh but uh SGA did its part.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. So you've kind of already said where meetings happened‚ which is in center‚ but can you give us any more texture like What did the room look like if you knew which if you remember which floor it was on those kinds of details? I'd love to get kind of the more texture of early meetings especially.

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ I'll share some memories. And I'll share couple another thing too that we did on campus that was that I that I have remember vividly. So uh I can't remember what night we would meet‚ but we'd meet some weekday night‚ say it was Wednesday night. Uh Steiner‚ the meeting was in the second floor I believe of Steiner. And it was a large uh a large meeting space‚ maybe with bookshelves around the edges of the room and lots of chairs‚ some comfortable‚ some more comfortable than others. Um we would probably have uh uh as many as twenty or thirty people. Ultimately‚ I think my senior year we had like at least 50 or so 54 people on the list of people who attend at one point or another. And the discussion was pretty free-roaming. I think we would introduce ourselves‚ people who were new would be asked to introduce themselves. Nobody had to identify‚ you know‚ what their sexual orientation or gender identity was or anything like that. But just and then we would have a topic‚ maybe we would have a topic that was preconceived that some of the um uh um you know it was kind of a leaderless group with leaders you know who tended to take leadership positions and or leadership responsibilities I should say who might come up with a topic that we would talk about So it was that sort of thing. And it was very informal‚ but very supportive. And of course it was a way of beginning to learn who else you could talk to. on campus more intimately and more intimately. There are two other things that I would share with you that that made the campus so supportive or that that are or that at least um reflected um the environment of the time. One was one of the things that we decided to do was to host a panel discussion It was the first time that gay students talked openly to the campus community. So we did this in CI Kiss Me Emotional. And we did this um in uh in South Lounge of the Forum. And the reason I probably get emotional about that is because I have to create the context. You know‚ in 1973‚ 74‚ homosexuality was still defined as a mental illness. So it's highly stigmatized. And so for people to be willing to be on a panel and talk‚ you know‚ it's In that time‚ openly‚ you know‚ was really um quite moving. And it had only been like maybe a year before that um the American Psychiatric Association Had debated‚ declassify‚ began to debate declassifying homosexuality. And Morgan‚ you may have seen this photo or know this incident‚ but there was a psychiatrist. was gay‚ who sat on a panel to talk about it and wore a mask so that no one could identify him. But he talked about being a gay psychiatrist. So you know it was that's the era that we were in. And And so I was on that panel‚ I was very fortunate and very privileged‚ and about 400 students showed up‚ which was really amazing. I mean‚ that was like a third of the student body at that time. time showed up and without incident and absolute support. The next day‚ you know‚ I had mentioned that I was uh a um uh I was getting my secondary education certificate. Roberta Atwell was my professor. And she was not out at that time. I know she's passed away‚ but I think she would be okay with my saying this because I know that she subsequently did come out. But she and I were in her office. I had seen that she was at that event and there were other factors at that event and she leaned over to me and she put her hand on my knee and she said that was a wonderful thing you did And there were a lot of us there who couldn't let you know that then. You know? So‚ um‚ and we just had this moment. Uh so that sort of captures the time. Yes‚ it makes me very emotional to just think about it.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah‚ I mean it's an emotional thing. Um so was it just students on that panel then?

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ we were all students. Yeah‚ we were all students. I can't remember everyone else who was on it. Um maybe um well maybe Robin was on it‚ I think. But I d I can't remember exactly. So there were also great fun times and one that I'm sure the story you've probably heard was the gay day story. Which which we did not invent. It had been done at Rutgers‚ but um you know‚ a lot the the one of the buzzwords of the time was consciousness raising. And uh so um people Would engage in activities that would raise the consciousness of the community in which they were living. And so we had this idea to do this consciousness-raising event where we would Ask‚ we would we would uh we um announce that we were going to take account of how many people on campus were gay or lesbian. And that if you wanted to help us with the counseling. just wearing your blue jeans. And of course the the irony was that nobody had anything else but blue jeans to wear because that was the uniform of students in that day and so we positioned ourselves with uh clipboards and this was on Valentine's Day and so we had cut out little venom hearts with purple ribbons‚ lavender ribbons‚ and we sat at uh the entrance to Kohl's and uh and quad and literally counted how many people were wearing blue jeans and we ended up reporting that 85% of the campus was gay. So And it was a bit of consciousness raising because we had announced this a few days in advance and people were really concerned about how they didn't want to throw off our count. So‚ but they didn't have anything else to win. So um but you can understand how this was a wonderful way to raise consciousness about what it meant to be open about being gay on campus and what it meant to have to be to be willing to claim your own identity publicly just as you would if you were heterosexual.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah‚ absolutely. Um you had mentioned a second ago that some of the GCG seems meetings had themes. Do you happen to remember what any of those were?

Bruce Koff '75: Oh no‚ I could only well I will tell one uh one topic that we had. Um uh there was a wonderful uh wonderful um alum‚ student at the time named uh Richard Cleaver and you may know of him from other information and and Richard was a charming charming and Ariudite uh student and very much a part of GCGC and he wanted to bring the film Boys in the Band to Grinnell. Now Boys in the Band was a play originally by Patrick Crowley and it was a play that depicted a community of gay men in in uh New York. Um and the characters and the Oh gosh‚ the picture of that life had within it tragedy and sadness and depression and uh indictiveness and what some people would call bitchery‚ you know? And so there was a discussion about whether or not to use student activity or student activity activity funds because we had student activity funds to bring that uh film to campus. And uh Richard wasn't in favor‚ I was opposed. At the time‚ uh Richard was probably more right than I was and uh we did end up bringing it to campus and it it fostered a lot of discussion it was probably a good thing all around um but it was uh that was one of the moments that I remember a really interesting discussion that we had about what people would conclude about because it had so many stereotypes and tragic stereotypes that I you know people didn't didn't want to promulgate. I'm sure there were other conversations about men and women‚ about I don't think there was a whole lot of discussion about trans issues in in those days. Probably not‚ to be perfectly honest. I think there were issues about relationships‚ about coming out‚ about coming out to family‚ about dating. uh about finding someone on campus. Uh so that was uh important too. Um in nineteen seventy four I think there was uh a m a Midwest gay pride conference held in in Iowa City. And so a lot of us went to that and it was probably our first experience with meeting a large number of other students from other colleges and universities around the Middle East. West and organizing and learning how to organize and and doing our own consciousness raising and learning about our history as a a segment of the population as a sub I know as a not a minority but a subgroup. Um and yeah learning about uh LGBTQ history and meeting uh gay identified farmers And uh all of that. So and seeing art and music that and theater that was um grounded in uh our identity. Which was so revolutionary at the time.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um I've actually heard a lot about that conference and read a lot about that conference. Um especially since it was pretty pivotal. For fo the founding of RFD magazine it sounds like‚ at least in the histories that are written. Yeah.

Bruce Koff '75: Um also the founder of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. at at University of Iowa. Oh. I believe so.

Morgan Smith '26: Um is there any other kind of details that you remember about the conference? Um any particularly vivid bids that you haven't already mentioned that stick out?

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ there was a yeah sure. Um it's funny‚ I don't remember the workshops as much as I remember a play that I went to that was all women and non-verbal and um it was so abstract and it was so it was so revolutionary and edgy but it involved women's relationships to other women and And it was a‚ it's funny that here I am 50 some years later‚ and I remember that play very much because I was so moved by it‚ you know‚ and it was not one word in that play

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um I think that's actually a great segue into another one of my questions‚ which is kind of what was the queer community slash GCT GC's kind of relationship with other um queer organizers outside of Grinnell‚ other gay liberation fronts on campuses. that kind of thing. I don't think there was a there wasn't.

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ there wasn't there wasn't a formal I don't think there was a formal relationship of any kind. I think the Midwest Gay Pride Conference was that opportunity to connect. But I think other than that‚ you know‚ whatever resources we had really came from ourselves and from people's own experiences. So I don't think uh there was any kind of formal formal connection. You know‚ now I think‚ especially with what's going on in Iowa‚ that the opportunity for university‚ students at university universities and college campuses throughout Iowa to mobilize is great. I don't know how much of that is happening‚ but it's there's a great opportunity there. an important one. I will say this‚ that we underst I I really do think that by virtue of having that space‚ um‚ we felt safer because of that that and we felt safer to be visible because of that and that that was a really nice balance between having a place to deal with um to get support and having a place to that Um uh be public invisible.

Morgan Smith '26: Um How did so of course the whole organization in many ways is political‚ but um do you think that um aside from your existence‚ like was there political well‚ I mean you've described like gay day and stuff‚ but like was there other political activities that happened and also‚ you know‚ what was the kind of balance between that and the more social fun aspects of things and how did that play out?

Bruce Koff '75: It was a good balance. You know‚ I think we were all learning at the same time. I mean there was so much new there was it was so it was so new and uh we were thirsty. for any amount of information. So underground papers‚ RFD‚ you know‚ was a was a major kind of thing. Um I remember uh having um oh god Uh I can't remember the name of the paper from San Francisco. Uh shoot. I'll think of it later. I'll think of it later‚ of course. If you can turn the topic‚ I might know it. No‚ it was it was the it was the gay paper in San Francisco Was it one magazine? No one was around. Uh-huh. One was definitely around. But uh I'll uh Bay Area Reporter‚ maybe? Bay Area Reporter‚ I think. Maybe that was it. Maybe. Uh that so there we had we had‚ you know‚ access to I mean there was no internet‚ so we had access to newspapers. And books and uh so I'm sure there was discussion we sometimes would discuss some of the some of the literature and some of the books. Um I don't remember I mean at that time there was no such thing as queer study or anything like that. So um but I I I I I imagine that there was discussion about‚ you know‚ uh queer living Literature that was around at the time. Baldwin‚ that sort of thing.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um in one of our student publications from the 2010s‚ there's this um kind of vignette remembering Stuart Schofield who mentioned earlier um that mentions putting together like one of the first editions of RFD in the forum. Do you kind of have any memories of like student involvement or an interaction with RFD magazine or just Stewart.

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah. Just Stewart. As I said to you‚ you know‚ before Stewart was a hippies hippie. And he was delightful and smart. And passionate and uh revolutionary. And he liked to push the envelope and he did very well. He did that very well. And RFD was an invention of him and some other people that he knew. And it It was a voice for uh uh rural gay men‚ um‚ which also uh really crossed into non-binariness. And um and in fact‚ you know‚ RFD‚ which stands for royal free delivery‚ was also like rustic fairy dreams. And uh I'm trying to remember some of the other uh ways in which that that that RFD stood for‚ but um uh it really invited uh the notion of uh non-binariness I guess what we call now non-binary as well. And that was the first place where I saw that um it really um had a very um that kind of positivity around um uh gender nonconformity.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um do you think that Grinnell's kind of rural location had any effect on perceived people's like perception of queerness or themselves and like how they interacted with that while they were here at Grinnell? Or do you feel like that was a bit more isolated because folks were at the college?

Bruce Koff '75: Gosh‚ that's a good question. I don't know. I I I think to some extent‚ well I think Stuart I you know Stuart is the person that that stands out in that regard because there was a whole sort of fairy community you know that that he was a part of and it was a it was a community of communities nationwide you know they all knew each other and rfd was the way in which those those communities were and those cultures were were um connected was really through RFD. So uh and and it's just amazing to me to think now that that kind of uh cultural uh work was happening here in Iowa and in Arkansas and in Tennessee and in Wisconsin and in Michigan. You know‚ it was just uh It's a remarkable thing that people were breaking those barriers and that non-binariness is part of our heritage too and not just something that just has happened in the last 10 or 15 years. So yeah.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. I mean there's some great things that have happened in Iowa‚ like Anita Bryant getting pied and Des Moines. Was she pied in Des Moines? She was.

Bruce Koff '75: I remember she was pied‚ but I thought that was in Florida. It was in Des Moines? Yeah. Oh Gosh. Well there you go.

Morgan Smith '26: Good to hear. Um going back to something that you said earlier‚ um you had mentioned kind of one of the topics of or some of the topics of discussion centered. around kind of finding relationships and dating‚ especially at the college. What did that look like? Uh I don't think it was easy.

Bruce Koff '75: Um‚ I because first of all you're talking about a very small group of people and you know uh think of how many people you probably we might screen online now before you find one that you might say‚ oh‚ I'm interested in. I mean thousands. So you had 50. And of those‚ maybe 30 were 20 were 15 to 20 were women. So uh you know um you didn't always hit it off with people. Um but you might experiment‚ you know‚ and I think there was a lot of experiment experimentation. I I I'll just talk for myself. I I certainly had um some men that I was interested in and that I dated‚ sort of dated. as best I understood what dating was. And that's the other thing I'll kind of mention is‚ and you'll you may understand this too‚ Morgan‚ that‚ you know‚ and In those days‚ if you were straight‚ you already had experience dating by the time you got to campus‚ right? And so you had learned a lot about how to manage intimacy. how to engage in conflict‚ how to understand give and take‚ how to set boundaries‚ how to incorporate sex. into your relationship. But if you were 19 and you were it were LGBTQ and you hadn't had that experience‚ it was all new. And it was all very confusing. And it was sort of awkward. because you felt like you should know better‚ but you don't. And so you make a lot of mistakes and fumble around. just sexually sort of fumble around relationally and I I'm sure I fumbled around a little bit and didn't really know myself. I am in c in touch with one of those guys that I dated though‚ still to this day. And and he's a wonderful wonderful man and uh um and so that's nice that I still have that connection to him.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um that's a lot of my kind of GCGC and queer life related questions‚ but um AIDS history of course is a big part of the history of the queer community‚ um‚ especially here in the the United States in general‚ um‚ which I know is after your time here at Grinnell‚ but um if you want to speak to either anything that you know of his AIDS history here at Grinnell or personal history elsewhere I'd love to hear that.

Bruce Koff '75: Sure. Um both. Both. First of all‚ I think there are so many untold stories about how impacted Grinnell. Um the one story that I do know um is because I remember it at the time. Um and you probably I'm sure you know this that uh um one of the the documentary i think it's called the life and times of harvey milk was directed by richard schmieken or produced by richard schmeakin who was a grinnel alum and who won an a academy award for that documentary. And Richard died of AIDS‚ I think‚ shortly after he won that award. And uh Grinnell actually did give him a very special alumni award posthumously. Um and I think his uh widow widow widower partner came and surviving partner came and and received that award but uh you know he um I will mention something else that Richard is known for for because of my own mental health background‚ is Richard also did a documentary called The Life and Times‚ I'm sorry‚ called Changing Our Minds‚ the story of Dr. Evelyn Hooker

Morgan Smith '26: Do you know this at all? Then I don't know the film‚ but the name Evelyn Hooker? Yeah‚ sounds familiar.

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ so just really quickly‚ um uh Evelyn Hooker Was a psychologist who in the 1940s and 50s began to study lesbians and gay men. And she demonstrated through her research‚ empirical research‚ that lesbians and gay men were no more likely to experience mental illness than their heterosexual counterparts. And she um her research ultimately led to the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness. She lived into her 80s. I actually met her once‚ which was a great‚ great honor. and privilege and um uh Richard Schmieken did a this film about her and it is one of the most remarkable documentaries I've ever seen. So if you ever get a chance I I highly encourage you to to watch it and I'll just say it again. It's um changing our minds the story of Dr.

Allenhard. Sir Richard was one who's lost. There were many‚ many uh other individuals‚ uh both‚ I think both faculty and and uh and students who died um uh of AIDS. And there is a painting in the in the in the JRC in the uh JRC that is I don't know if you've seen this painting. Do you know the painting?

Morgan Smith '26: Uh if you describe it there's uh I'll tell you it's uh I'll tell you the second it's on the second floor right now and it's a painting that was done

Bruce Koff '75: by a Grinnell alum named Scott‚ who I'm forgetting Scott's last name‚ forgive me. And it's a painting that essentially shows was in a in a very stark way‚ a man carrying uh the body of another man up the staircase. Um you should know too that by the time you're my age‚ you cry a lot. So so um it comes very easily and that's okay. So if it comes across in this interview‚ that's okay too. So this kind of this kind of thing makes me cry. Um my own experience with AIDS‚ uh um I became I was very involved in uh in volume volunteering after Grinnell. You know‚ Grinnell‚ as I said‚ was a place of invention and volunteerism‚ and I carried that with me. And so because of my own experience in in uh good experiences and bad experiences around my being gay in in the mental health uh uh field and being um and counseling uh I gravitated toward wanting to be in of service in the mental health field with our community. And so I had a lot of uh what I call chronic un differentiated volunteerism‚ which is not quite in the DSM. It's not diagnosable‚ but I still definitely have it to this day. And so I began to volunteer with an organization called Horizons in Chicago. Chicago‚ which became centered around Halstead‚ which is the community center for the LGBTQ community in Chicago. And so I was the executive director from 1984 to 1990‚ which went was um and Chicago was one of the epicenters of AIDS. And so uh I um was involved with uh helping to To address that crisis within a social service standpoint and a mental health standpoint‚ not within a medical standpoint‚ while also helping to bring about other services. to support the LGBT community in Chicago. I also was a member of the Woody City Gay Chorus. I was a charter member of the Woody City Gay Chorus. And you may not know that there was a huge choral‚ gay choral movement that started in the late 70s. Chicago was one of the first choruses. Music is in my soul and the experience of being in a chorus comprised of 80 gay in uh was revolutionary in its own way. The reason I bring it up is because I knew so many people. So I knew the volunteers at Horizons. I knew volunteers at the Windy City Gay Chorus. I knew friends and so forth‚ an extensive network of people that I knew. So I lost a lot of people. I was fortunate not to lose a lot of very‚ very close friends‚ but I lost a lot of friends. Probably within that period from 1984 and 1990. So what I also witnessed was uh an incredible amount of uh sacrifice and commitment to helping each other. I I often say that I have never seen since then so many people do so much for so many other people in such a short time because we had to. You know‚ because the government was nowhere to be found. And it was an amazing phenomenon‚ and I can carry that with me to this day as a demonstration of what we are capable of. Yeah. It's true the moving.

Morgan Smith '26: Um yeah‚ and I know that we've got some great like we've got I mean in the exhibit that I just showed you we've got an AIDS quilts segment. There's another one in the SRC‚ I believe‚ that were student created.

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah. Um it's good to think about how Grinnell it would be good to think about in in retrospect. to retrospect to understand age you have to understand impact and uh and and you have to understand response and grinnel had there was an impact and I don't think it's ever really been fully documented and there was a response and that I don't think they've been documented either. So it would be good to to fill in that piece of our history.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah that's definitely one of the goals of the project. I know there's some stuff in the S B that I'm definitely digging into further. Yeah. Um kind of shifting gears a bit then. Um I guess back to to the politics a little bit. You mentioned the um I'm forgetting exactly the term‚ but the draft resource center that students ran. Yeah. Um were you involved in kind of any political activism outside of kind of G C G C on campus? And if so‚ what did that look like? like um can you paint a picture?

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah sure well anti-Vietnam war activism but at that time when I got to campus you know uh can't you know Kent State had happened so that was when students were murdered on campus by National Guard in Ohio at Kent State. So after that happened‚ I think many campuses were just simply radical radicalized. And um and so when I got to campus there really was uh um uh uh a culture Of anti- an anti-war culture. So participating in anti-war‚ it was not uncommon to participate in demonstrations. I remember when um the US mined the mined Haiphong Harbor in and bombed Cambodia. I don't know if those were the same events on the same time or or separate. But uh there were candlelight marches through town from the campus. Um led in some part by the campus and in some part by the church communities town interestingly enough uh so yeah it was a different place than you know grinnel and in that sense so those were those were definitely um I remember that activism. The other thing that I re I remember‚ and this is so important in terms of AIDS too‚ uh women's health movement was very prominent in the in the 70s And uh I was very fortunate to‚ again‚ this is my chronic undifferentiated volunteerism. Uh so I volunteered to be a sexuality peer counselor. And uh the student uh affairs office organized a group and trained us as sexuality peer counselors and so we of course used as our guide the book Our Bodies Ourselves which I don't know if you're familiar with but it's a book that was the first sort it came out of a women's collective and it was about women's bodies and and bodily functions and reproduction and and um birth control and so forth and so I learned a lot about just women's health Um and became‚ you know‚ sort of trained as a peer counselor to talk about um abortion and birth control and um sexuality. The reason I bring that up is because when uh AIDS struck um the leaders of the many of the leaders in the response to AIDS‚ which had to be community driven because government was not helping um were women from and particularly lesbians from the women's health movement and so the aids the response to AIDS within the the community response to AIDS was shaped by the women's health expertise.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. I mean I know that that's a large part of the logic of the arrangement of the ag acronym LGBTQ. is because of the support that lesbians provided during AIDS. Um I knew. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um‚ what did kind of women's and lesbian involvement look like in GCG if I know that that's not who you are‚ but I presume that you had friends there and so can you describe that?

Bruce Koff '75: Um yeah I think I think it I think um You know‚ there were more men involved in GCGC than women. So there was a numbers thing‚ you know. And uh I think what um I I think at that time there was more of uh interest in separatism as part of women's culture. a lesbian culture and a need for that. And uh so that was the beginning of women's music festivals and women's gatherings and so forth. And so I think um There was a tension. And I wouldn't say it was dramatic or anything‚ because we did have men and women working together. But I think there was a a probably a bit of a tension because men there were more men‚ men tended to dominate the conversation. You know‚ we weren't all as evolved as we like to think we are now. So‚ you know‚ um I don't think uh um the principles of feminism were really inculcated as well among men as they are‚ as they might be right now. So uh looking back on that‚ you know‚ I'm sure there are a lot of women ways in which we were unconsciously exercising power as men. Yeah. So as as this gender men.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um and then kind of getting back to the political activism a little bit. um was there cases where GCGC kind of worked alongside um other groups doing political activism or did the group kind of stay more focused specifically on like gay rights and things. I know of course we're in Grinnell and so everybody's doing everything. But what was your kind of perception there?

Bruce Koff '75: Uh I d I yeah‚ I think we pretty much did it to ourselves. I it's not because I mean if I was an I mean I was out on campus. I wasn't the only person out on campus. Eventually a lot of people came out on campus. So were we involved in other activism? Sure. But did our sexuality matter? No‚ it didn't. You know‚ people knew we were gay‚ people knew we were lesbian‚ and there wasn't any friction‚ it wasn't a it wasn't an issue. You know. I I will say this. I think the other thing that that I should mention is that I think if you were uh African American and gay‚ that was a different experience. experience on campus. Um and I only knew a few uh African American gay men who were out. Um I don't think I knew at the time any African American women who were out identified as lesbian. Although I'm sure they were there. Um but uh I think you know that was an experience that was sort of unacknowledged in those days and the the a different experience that was unacknowledged.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah.

Bruce Koff '75: So yeah.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. But I mean it's good to know that there were folks out there that were on that were the on campus having that experience. experience‚ which is actually a great question of um that I was going to ask of‚ you know‚ was there involvement of kind of people of color within GCGC during your time there or was it I'm sure it was predominantly white‚ but like what are the demographics?

Bruce Koff '75: Yeah‚ I mean it's predominantly white. I think there were two or three men of color that I remember. Um one of whom I dated and uh who's a wonderful sweet man who also died of AIDS. Um so subsequent to Renault. Yeah. Um Um‚ I think that's what I heard at least. So uh yeah‚ there you go. Um but yes‚ not a lot. And of course at that time‚ you know‚ uh the uh there was um an understandable sort of um uh separatism that that was occurring on campus too and uh And one that I think wasn't well addressed at the time.

Morgan Smith '26: Um so we've talked your kind of mental health background and the influences that that has kind of come up a little bit‚ but as we're kind of starting to slowly wrap up‚ I'd love to hear um if you'd like to reflect on it‚ how kind of your interactions with the queue queer community here affected your post-grenat life if you'd like to reflect on that a little more.

Bruce Koff '75: Um entirely. You know‚ um because I came out on campus. uh and because I had such a good experience coming out on campus. Um like I said‚ I I went into my adulthood‚ my post-Grenelle life. um with not with an expectation that it would be the same‚ but um with a assumption that it would be the same could be. And so that's where I gravitated was to doing more work within the community. And everything was political uh at that point. Forming a course was political. You know‚ um forming a bowling team and a softball team‚ you know‚ was political. Uh I remember being when I first graduated Grinnell‚ I was a waiter at a gay restaurant and we had a bowling team and I was on a bowling league with that restaurant as the only only gay restaurant in a restaurant bullying league. That was political. You know? So everything was political. Um but I think that that that's that's the best I could say is that the experience at Grinnell helped me to feel entitled to something more and committed to making sure that other people understood that it that that they were entitled to the same. And it was a lot of work‚ you know. And in terms of my career‚ Morgan‚ I don't know how much I've shared with you about this‚ but um so uh really the focus of my career was As a result of what of the negative experiences that I had in mental health and the subsequent positive experience that I had‚ including Aquino. I committed my career to educating the mental health profession on clinical practice with our community. Um because you know‚ the fact is‚ you know‚ every every therapist and clinician and hosp psychiatric hospital or service is going to is going to encounter members of our community and they better be trained. You know‚ in how to understand us and how to work with us and not assume that we're like everybody else because we are not in some ways. Not like anybody else at all. Mm-hmm.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Um‚ whether this is in relation to the queer community or just more generally Grinnell life‚ um‚ are there kind of any moments or memories that really stick with you about Grinnell that we haven't touched on yet. Anything really striking or anything?

Bruce Koff '75: I'm thinking. Any particular experience?

Morgan Smith '26: Anything I was gonna say‚ anything that you'd like to speak on.

Bruce Koff '75: I regard um a green education as one of the greatest privileges of my life. I came here‚ you know‚ like so many thousands of other students‚ not knowing myself very well‚ not understanding the world very well. not knowing my place in it‚ not knowing how to think‚ not knowing how to think critically‚ not knowing how to reflect on myself‚ not knowing how to understand myself in the context of the environment and the world and I left here um with uh so much more awareness and skill in in that so So‚ you know‚ my um my gratitude to Grinnell is pretty endless. It's pretty endless. And um‚ and you know‚ my husband is a grinnelian. And uh he's seven years younger than me. We did not meet here. Uh would that we did. Because it would have been great. And when we come back for reunion‚ we sort of imagined what it might have been like. But I know that we are together in part because of the shared experience. of Gruno and uh and the values and the perspective and the capacity and the introspection and the willingness to challenge ourselves and to think about who we are in this world. And that all is part of why we love each other.

Morgan Smith '26: Okay. Um‚ is there anything else that we haven't talked about or covered yet that you'd like to make sure gets in the interview? Anything we haven't touched on yet?

Bruce Koff '75: Nothing that comes to mind right now because you've been really thorough‚ you know‚ Morgan. The one thing I will say is thank you. Because uh history is so important um not just me by any chance by any by any means but but knowing the history um because there are the dilemmas that we face now um are Are extreme‚ but not more extreme than have been faced in the past. And There are lessons from the past that could still be useful‚ and that can be found obviously in history And so it's good to know it‚ you know. And also to I wish that I had known our history when I was um your age. I wish I had known some of the history. I've since learned a lot of it and it inspires me. to this day. But it's a great um it's a great thing to be able as a young LGBTQ person or young career person to be able to know that there is a history and that it's accessible. So thank you for doing this.

Morgan Smith '26: Yeah. Thank you so much for the interview.