Out in the Mountains

Controversy at Bennington College

Nancy Bums

Recently, Edward Hoagland, author of
the controversial essay “Shhh! Our Writ-
ers Are Sleeping!” (Esquire, June 1990)
was offered a three year teaching posi-
tion at Bennington College. This posi-
tion replaces one he was denied earlier
this year due to the uproar and accusa-
tions of homophobia that were a result of
his essay.

The essay stirred no controversy when it
was originally published, yet ignited the
school last December when students and
faculty became aware of it. The article
surfaced after a decision by the literature
faculty to hire Hoagland for a three year
teaching position.

The crux of the controversy was based
on Hoagland’s opinion that anal sex is a
main cause of the spread of AIDS and
that it is an unhealthy sexual practice
that “mammals had all but stopped using
70 to 100 million years ago.”

Knowledge of Hoagland’s essay quickly
activated the college’s Lesbiar1/Gay/
Bisexual Alliance, which demanded that
the faculty reconsider its proposed ap-
pointment of Hoagland. The faculty re-

convened in December for a second vote,
saying it was because some professors
had not met Hoagland at the time of the
first vote.

Hoagland cried foul play and, in an ed-
itorial in the New York Times, claimed,
“The students told me their protest had
not been spontaneous but had been in-
stigated by a professor who showed them
the offending article after the faculty
vote to rehire me.” Several students and
faculty claimed that the statements in his
essay were hostile to gays and lesbians.

Hoagland responded to the homophobia
accusations by stating that he supports
homosexual relationships. The passage,
he claimed, was intended to warn against
the dangers of promiscuity in the age of
AIDS. “I am classified as a nature writ-
er,” said Hoagland “and I just think it
(anal sex) is dangerous because it is not
provided for physiologically. It's risky
but I don’t think its morally wrong.”

Hoagland appealed his case to the Per-
sonnel Review Committee, which con-
cluded in their report that proper pro-
cedures were deviated from when the
faculty reversed their initial decision to

 

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hire Hoagland. A new applicant evalua-
tion procedure was recommended and a
symposium on “political correctness”
was suggested for this fall. Hoagland
claimed that because his statement was
not “politically correct” he was not hired
The committee also stated that “Ed
Hoagland should ttot be barred from
teaching at Bennington College.”

Literature faculty members quickly re-
sponded to the report with a rebuttal. In a
memorandum to the Personnel Review
Committee, ten Literature and Language
Division faculty members endorsed a
statement that “not a single member of
the Division maintained that (I-Ioag-
1and’s) published sentences, if indeed ho-
mophobic, should disqualify him.” They
also stated that although Hoagland was
not chosen for the position, he was not
barred from other positions or removed
from his current one.

Maura Spiegel, literature professor and
Division Secretary said that, contrary to
the conclusions of the Personnel Review
Committee report, conoem of the lit-
erature professors ‘ about Hoagland’s
teaching and treatment of students dom-
inated the discussion about his suitability
for the three year contract.

The Board of Trustees, meeting over
graduation weekend, sided with the Per-
sonnel Review Committee and ordered
the literature faculty to create a position
for Hoagland. Less than one month after
the Board’s action, Hoagland was of-
fered and accepted a three year position
teaching writing, beginning in the fall of
1992. It is unclear how the faculty and
students will react to the latest round in
this controversy as most of Bennington
College is on summer break at this time. V

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