Brown and White Vol. 102 no. 39

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 102 no 39 friday april 7 1995 all the lehigh news first kent state students bring their opinions out of the closet by dianne shelton news writer three students from kent state university representing the les bian gay bisexual union of kent spoke on monday in the ulrich student center's kenner theater they spoke about what it was like to come out of the closet and raised questions for discus sion regarding homosexuality matthew terlecky a homo sexual from niles ohio beth yoder a bisexual from uniontown ohio and susan way a lesbian from san diego calif began by explaining the four purposes of lgbu yoder said the purpose of lgbu is to be educational politi cal and social and to provide sup port yoder said we're not trained counselors we refer to gay-friendly organizations in the kent area each member of the panel ex plained the circumstances they en countered when they decided to come out terlecky was met with violence and anger from his mother when he came out as a gay man six years ago at the age of 20 my mom went psychotic she's an italian catholic woman who's really into the church when i came out to her she stabbed me and beat me with a baseball bat he said since i was away at school she took all of my stuff at home and putiton the curb for goodwill she's beginning to come around though he explained that his mother still does not believe that he is gay that it is a phase and he just needs to find the right woman he said she owns a beauty parlor and every time i go home there are new pictures of her clients daughters lined up on the dining room table way had a more positive experi ence than terlecky i've had much better luck coming out i came out to my mother at 14 and it was really frightening she said she sup ported me even though i think at the time she thought it was a phase way said that while her mother supports her and even marches with her in gay pride parades she still has some reservations my sister told me that behind my back my mother doesn't like it she thinks that be cause i'm a lesbian she'll never have grandchildren which isn't bawphniu by lesley schopp matthew terlecky left beth yoder and susan way students from kent state university discussed homosexuality and its repercussions at a coming out presentation monday taylor renovations to continue by annabel lukins news writer renovations for taylor gymnasium will resume at the end of may due to the $ 1 6 million budget allotted for the commencement of phase 111 according to tony corallo assistant vice president for facility services and campus planning the renova tions will be completed in phases we want to get the heavily-used student portions of the building finished before the fall semester corallo said corallo said the men and women locker rooms above the main lobby will get new lockers carpeting lighting heating ventilation showers and toilet areas joe sterrett director of athletics said taylor is put together in vertical pods which means that the infra structure connects the building in a vertical way there fore systems like water and heating are all tied together and need to be worked on as a whole additionally the wrestling room will undergo cos metic and mechanical treatments corallo said the basketball court on the third floor will be renovated too workers will refinish the floor put in new heating ventilation and lighting systems paint and install new backboards carallo said there is also a small room off the court that will be expanded and turned into an aerobic area sterrett said they will move the intramural office to grace hall we want to keep with the student nature of the ulrich freshman residence hall plans to go coed by rachel meehan news writer beginning next semester fresh man students may be living in much closer quarters with members of the opposite sex ozzie breiner associate director for residence halls said mcclintic marshal 1 house will be the first fresh man building to offer a coed hall in an effort to foster better relations be tween male and female students and to reduce the amount of student dam age to residence halls if there is an increased demand they may move on to one or two halls from lower centennials we will determine how many halls will be coed by room when we find out how many students wish to live on coed halls breiner said we may get 40 people who want to live on a coed hall or we may get 200 we will meet the demand breiner said forming a coed hall is something residential services has wanted to do for a while we have seen that it has worked at other universities and we thought that it would be a good option for lehigh to keep in mind breiner said breiner foresees two main ben efits of a coed hall the first advan tage would be better relations be tween the sexes i think that it would create a calmer area if men and women are living in such a close environment toone another breiner said it would teach everyone how to live with the opposite sex carey smith 95 president of the residence halls council said coed halls will improve male and female relations if male and female students are on the same hall together i think that it will help them get along together better carey said another benefit of the coed hall according to breiner would be less student damage to the hall student damage is always a concern with the residence halls breiner said if we remove the locker room mentality it may change attitudes smith agreed with breiner and said that other schools that have coed freshman halls usually see a reduc tion in damage created by the hal imates breiner said he cannot predict how many prospective freshmen will choose to live on a hall that is coed by room but he said they will accom modate all of those students who express a desire to live in such an environment these buildings were chosen be cause there are two bathrooms on each hall therefore if such a hall were transformed into a hall that is coed by room men would have the use of one bathroom and females would have use of the other these halls would also have two gryphons one male and one female martha hoerst 98 now lives in m&m she said that creating a hall that is coed by room is worth a try by the time people reach col lege hoerst said they should be mature enough to handle an environ ment where they are living with mem bers of the opposite sex i think that it's worth a shot and residential ser vices should give it a try garrett franklin 98 also lives in mcclintic-marshall he said any measure that would help to reduce damage on his hall would be benefi cial i won't be living in a dorm next year but if i had the choice i would probably want to live on a coed hall if it would help lesson the amount of money that we have to pay for the damage that other people do franklin said i think that it is a pretty good idea and am pretty surprised that the administration has not thought of it before he said please see kent page 6 please see taylor page 6 vert mmmm^tr ffc i death penalty 4 l^^^^sn^b^^^jßf^tfl internet privacy 7 4 jjm women's movement s i mjr b^l judo feature 22 men's tennis 24 men's lacrosse lehigh prevails over st johns 12-5 see sports page 24