A flyer posted in the Gettysburg College student union last week announcing an event that never took place has put the college in the national news.
The flyer asked people who were “tired of white cis men” to come paint and write about their feelings at an event to be held last Saturday.
Editor’s note: “Cis” refers to “cisgender,” a term used to describe a person whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. It is not the same as “straight” or “heterosexual” which refer to being attracted to members of the opposite sex.
The college distanced itself from the flyer and the event was canceled as the news about it went viral. The story was carried by Fox News, The Washington Examiner, the New York Post, and other news and social media outlets.
The college said the event was created as part of a student project, that it did not endorse the event, and that it had asked the student “to restructure their project.”
According to a story in the campus newspaper, The Gettysburgian, a student involved in the project said the event was created in part to draw attention to what they perceived as racist and homophobic events that had occurred on campus this semester.
“In any community of our size, there will be a wide range of views. That creates a fertile educational environment, but it also means that there will be occasions where views expressed are controversial or inconsistent with the values of the community. That is inherent in the freedom we give to our students to find themselves and to express themselves,” said the statement from the college.
Featured image: Gettysburg College student union [Gettysburg College]