Dartmouth College, which for a long time has been seen as a bastion of conservatism in the Ivy League, has elected its first openly gay student body president, Tim Andreadis.
His election “signals a change” at the college according to the Boston Globe: “Dartmouth, the last college in the Ivy League to admit women and the home of the right-leaning Dartmouth Review, dealt quietly with sexual orientation for years. It was a place where some feared that coming out could spur negative reactions.”
Not so any more. Andreadis was named on more than half the ballots in a four-way race.
Brian Ellner, who recently ran for Manhattan Borough President (employing a campaign ad that inspired both praise and controversy), was also elected student body president at Dartmouth during his education, and wrote a letter to the Dartmouth paper noting how times had changed.
Said Ellner: ”When I was elected student body president at the end of my sophomore year in 1990 it was widely reported that I was the first-ever ‘non-Greek' to hold that office. It was never reported that I was gay. Sadly, winning that race as an openly gay candidate would not have been possible.”
Andreadis says his goals are to “improve the retention rate of minority and women faculty, and…to decrease the number of sexual assaults on campus” along with lifting restrictions on same-gender housing, a move he thinks would make gay and lesbian students more comfortable.
Andreadis: “I wanted to make student government about changing social and cultural issues. I hope people see Dartmouth as not as conservative as they once thought.”
Dartmouth was last on the pages of Towleroad almost a year ago as ESPN prepared to tell the story of Andrew Goldstein, the openly gay Lacrosse player whom ESPN called “the most accomplished, team sport athlete in North America to be openly gay during his playing career.”
Out, and leading, at Dartmouth [boston globe]
Related
ESPN to Tell Gay Goalie's Story [tr]
Decent Exposure [tr]
(thanks nico!)
