1,000 attend VCU forums about Cuccinelli opinion on protecting gays

As lawmakers defeated a renewed effort yesterday to include sexual orientation in state anti-discrimination policies, about 1,000 students and faculty turned out at Virginia Commonwealth University to assail an attorney general's opinion that targets campus diversity policies.

VCU called the campus forums on short notice in response to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's opinion that public universities do not have the authority to ban discrimination against gays without a mandate from the General Assembly.

In sometimes-emotional comments to VCU Provost Stephen D. Gottfredson, students and their teachers described Cuccinelli's action as a threat that reaches beyond sexual orientation.

They worried that rescinding the policies could jeopardize the academic accreditation of their programs.

Some questioned whether there would be financial retribution for universities that did not change their policies. And others wondered why university presidents and boards of visitors hadn't renounced the opinion immediately.

"This hits me personally and professionally," said Carol Schall, an assistant professor in the School of Education.

The opinion affects more than the gay and lesbian community, she said. "It is about the university's right to establish its own scholarly community and its right to maintain academic freedom."

Describing the attorney general's opinion as "mean-spirited," Gottfredson said it was just Cuccinelli's interpretation of the law. "I personally beg to disagree," he said.

Diversity and inclusion are "embedded in the very fiber of VCU," he said, and those policies will stand unless the board of visitors acts to change them.

William Oglesby, an assistant professor of mass communications, said students who took up the "Yes we can" banner in the last presidential campaign need to become politically engaged again with the message "No we won't."

Gottfredson said Cuccinelli's opinion shows that elections have consequences.

Unlike his two predecessors, Gov. Bob McDonnell did not issue an executive order banning discrimination against gays.

On Monday, the Republican chairman of the House General Laws Committee canceled its last meeting of the General Assembly session.

That prevented the committee from reconsidering Senate Bill 66, which would have codified sexual orientation as part of Virginia's anti-discrimination policy for the state work force.

On the House of Delegates floor yesterday, Del. Kenneth R. Plum, D-Fairfax, proposed a rare parliamentary procedure to bypass the House General Laws Committee and bring the bill directly to the House floor.

"This is a jobs bill," said Plum, arguing that the Cuccinelli opinion and the absence of a law to overturn it would discourage companies from locating in Virginia.

But Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, opposed the maneuver. His proposal to kill the Plum motion was passed 55-42. Most Republicans voted to kill the Plum motion, while most Democrats voted for it.

Afterward, Del. Adam P. Ebbin, D-Arlington, who is openly gay, condemned what he termed "outrageous and ideological zealotry."

"The public is ahead of the General Assembly," said Ebbin, who later attended a VCU forum on the medical campus and urged those in attendance to share their concerns with their representatives.

Del. Joseph D. Morrissey, D-Henrico, who also attended the forum, asked whether VCU's board of visitors had voted on the policy that covers sexual orientation. He said members of the General Assembly are looking for board members with the "courage and conviction" to take a stand on the issue.

Gottfredson said the board had not voted on the VCU anti-bias policy that covers sexual orientation. He described it as an administrative policy enacted to conform with federal laws.

Board members did not attend the forums at VCU, which were expanded to five because of an overflow crowd at one session.

In an interview, VCU Rector Anne G. "Panny" Rhodes said she will be talking to all the board members and would not be surprised if there is unanimous agreement to support the policy as it now stands.

"I am so hugely disappointed in this action," she said of the Cuccinelli opinion. "We simply do not discriminate, period."

Although most university policies specifically include sexual orientation, policies at Virginia Military Institute and Virginia State University do not.

But VSU President Eddie N. Moore Jr. said in an interview that "it goes without saying or printing" that his university does not discriminate.

Across the state, students were turning to social media to express their disdain about the Cuccinelli opinion. A Facebook group called "We Don't Want Discrimination in Our State Universities and Colleges" had about 5,000 members last night.

VCU students are using Facebook to organize a rally today at noon at the Student Commons and expect more than 1,000 protesters to attend.

At yesterday's forums, students said that VCU's inclusive policy was what drew them to the university.

"If VCU did not protect sexual orientation, I wouldn't have come here," said Luke Schlimme, a graduate student in social work who pointed out that diversity protection is required in the code of ethics for his field.

Schlimme said Virginia was taking "huge steps backward" just as other states and the District of Columbia were moving ahead in the recognition of same-sex marriages.