This all started with North Carolina passing House Bill 2, or HB2 as it is known which impacted the LGBT community in the state of North Carolina, primarily the transgender community. Followed by New York State banning all non-essential travel to North Carolina because they were appalled by the law. Now, we are somewhere I never thought I'd find myself. Left in a position taking on a battle that I don't wish to take on alone. But silence is not an option. I cannot allow my alma matter to support discrimination within their community through college athletics and say nothing. I have to say something; I am obligated to say something. By saying nothing or doing nothing, I am just as guilty as Marist College for their behavior.
I tell kids every day that I speak with them in my job as an Admission Counselor that where they go to college is going to become the foundation of their life. It was where they will learn to think critically, examine things in various contexts, and develop a sense of ethics and values that will follow them. Whether you go to a Liberal school, a Catholic school… it all becomes a part of who you are. My experience at Marist College was exactly what I just described. A period where I learned to think critically, expand my horizons on subject matter that challenged my ethics and values, resulting in me growing as an individual. Through the college’s value and mission statement, I adapted a form of critical thinking. It was the best education I could have received, and as I’ve written about before, it was hands down the greatest four years of my life. That is why as an alum of Marist College, it is disappointing that the very thought process I was taught on campus is not being applied in their decision to allow our Men’s Basketball program to visit the state of North Carolina for a match up with Duke.
For those who may be unaware, North Carolina passed a law known as House Bill 2, which in its rawest form, discriminates against the LGBT community. It applies to schools within the state of North Carolina that are public and state funded, which does not include Duke University as a private school. New York State, in response to this law, banned all non-essential travel to the state of North Carolina. This effectively prohibited the SUNY-Albany Men’s Basketball program from traveling to North Carolina to play Duke as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament because Albany is a state funded university, and their travel is not essential to New York state. Once it became clear that Marist, as a private college in the state of New York was exempt from NY State's ruling and was going to be replacing Albany to play Duke, members of the LGBT community at Marist, and others, voiced their displeasure with this decision, myself included.
You may be wondering why we, as a community, are upset at this decision by Marist. As a former Catholic school, LGBT students, faculty, staff, etc. have not always felt support from the College itself. The history of LGBT acceptance and the Catholic church is well documented in American history, and I encourage you to educate yourself about it. Currently, Marist is a private liberal arts school, as it distanced itself from identifying as a Catholic school in 1969. When I decided on attending Marist, my sexuality had absolutely nothing to do with the decision other than the fact I chose Marist because it was far away from my hometown. I was running away from something in retrospect, and today I realize part of that was my sexuality. But it came with me to Marist, as I soon realized that while I may have run to Poughkeepsie for a fresh start, who I am is going to stay with me. Running from my problems solved nothing, so I had to face them head on. I’m not the type of person to think about doing something extensively - I just dive head first. That statement is beyond applicable to my decision to start coming out to people I had known for a month. I thought about what could happen, all the scenarios of what my life could become after that. But it did not stop me from just doing it-people were either going to accept me for me or not at all. To this day, I still operate that way. It isn’t my personal problem if someone doesn’t accept it, it is his/her problem.
Having played sports for as long as I can remember in my life, having studied Sports Communication at Marist, and having recently completed my Master’s in Sport Leadership at Northeastern University, I have spent a lot of time and energy learning about the sports industry, and how it has a global impact on cultures around the world and the influence it has on American culture. Though Marist College isn’t as well-known nationally as Duke University, it has a strong following of alumni and other community members that support it academically & athletically. Marist College & Marist Athletics, like other colleges and athletic programs, professional sports organizations, etc., have an opportunity to send a message that they will not stand for discrimination against people, regardless of what type of discrimination it may be. We cannot send a message, as a College community, that sports are more important than standing by what is the right thing to do ethically. If this was a contest held on a site outside of North Carolina, I’d be the happiest Red Fox in the world. I’d be supporting the hell out of this opportunity for my alma matter, a school nestled in the heart of the Hudson Valley, to show the world who we are. But because we are representing a state of equality, having legalized same-sex marriage prior to the U.S. Government legalizing it, it is hard for me to support this endeavor. It is as a result of what I learned at Marist in the classroom, and the people I encountered outside of it on campus, that have allowed my way of thinking to grow intellectually the way it has today. While UAlbany, as a state school, is not allowed to go per the order of Andrew Cuomo, they publicly support his decision to not participate in the contest, according to statements released through Athletic Department officials. A friend of mine, Chelsea Botta, said it best. Marist should have followed suit in not going as a school from New York State. Thinking critically, it simply takes one individual, one student-athlete, one college or university, one organization such as the NBA, to get the conversation started on equality in sports and in culture as a whole. Sports, as I have learned throughout my entire life, impacts culture. It transcends culture in many ways for both good and bad, influencing behaviors and thought processes of people. Together, if we collectively stand up against bigger issues that negatively impact society, we are collectively working to make the world a better place.
By allowing Men’s Basketball to participate in this contest, it conveys a negative message that we are willing to tolerate or dare I say accept that North Carolina has passed a law discriminating against individuals, for the purpose of playing a basketball game. We cannot allow the notion that basketball is more important than equal rights to exist, especially when it goes directly against the College’s mission statement. The mission statement says that “Marist is dedicated to helping students develop the intellect, character, and skills required for enlightened, ethical, and productive lives in the global community of the 21st century.” By sending a team for a sports game to North Carolina, we are not standing by our mission statement, because this law is neither enlightened, ethical, or productive. While I would love to support the opportunity playing at Duke brings Marist College and its athletic department brings, as an LGBT alum I cannot. The College is sending a statement that I, and countless others, as members of their community do not matter.
I feel for the Duke University community, which has publicly condemned the law, including the Head Coach of their Men's Basketball program Coach K. By no means am I asking for complete punishment to members of North Carolina and its various communities that do not support the laws. Duke is in an impossible position, as a university in which as far as I can tell, embraces its LGBT community, something that Marist College has not yet quite perfected. By no means is Marist unwelcoming, but the action of voluntarily participating in a pre-season tip off tournament outside of conference play speaks volumes. As others have noted, they could have gone anywhere. Our football team, for examples, plays in a conference in which we have to travel to North Carolina. While that is easier to accept, I would ideally hope that we could avoid it all together but I know we cannot. But Marist and the Men's Basketball program could have gone elsewhere, and as they clearly have indicated they have no intentions of doing so. I, as a former intern in Marist Athletics for two years, as a former tour guide for Marist Undergraduate Admission, as a former intern for the Center of Sports Communication, as a former Orientation Leader, as a former Pre-College Resident Assistant, as a former student, am going against beloved members of the Marist Community with whom I have developed personal relationships with. I wish I was not going up against, in essence, my entire Marist family. But I cannot stand down as an openly gay man and allow for discrimination. It would go against my ethics and beliefs, and everything I sought out to change about the Marist community as a member of its LGBT Sub-Committee through the College's Diversity Council.
In their response to the controversy this has created, Marist said that “It is worth noting that hundreds, if not thousands, of colleges still plan to send sports teams, musical groups, admissions recruiters, etc. to North Carolina (and other states that have laws which discriminate against the LGBT community). In addition, while the National Basketball Association moved its All-Star game from North Carolina, it did not cancel the Charlotte Hornets' season.” By this logic, they are undoubtedly saying that since other organizations in some capacity are going to North Carolina, that our reasoning is justified. As someone who works in college admissions and actively recruits students, I find that reasoning from Marist College weak. We are aiming to recruit students out of that state, and would be punishing them by not allowing them to learn of colleges outside of their region to attend with open minds and open hearts. Marist, and its community, must raise above the status quo, because that, as a school is who we are. We are taught in classes and other outlets on campus not to settle for what has been or what is, but to aspire for what will be if we work together to change industries, communities, or in a larger picture, the world. It is not enough to just say that you do not support something, your actions must back it up. Actions are louder than words, and right now, the actions of Marist are silent and deafening all in one. The message they are sending is that civil rights issues are not important to acknowledge and support, and that exposure and/or financial gains are worth risking a notable reputation. That is not the Red Fox way, nor should it be the American way.
Michael Brosseau
Marist College ’14
Twitter: @mike_bross
