Pro-heterosexual organizations exist at other Big Ten universities

The news that the pro-heterosexual Students Reinforcing Adherence In General Heterosexual Tradition was forming shocked many in the University community. But Penn State is not the only Big Ten university with this type of organization.

At University of Wisconsin-Madison, student Peter Halfmann founded the Ninety Percent Society this semester with two friends.

"We're a pro-heterosexual organization that caters to heterosexuals," he said.

There are more than 10 lesbian, gay and bisexual organizations on campus, said Sara Braun, program coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Campus Center at University of Wisconsin-Madison. The most active organization is the Ten Percent Society, she said.

Forming the Ninety Percent Society is important to give heterosexuals at the university a voice, Halfmann explained, because there are so many lesbian, gay and bisexual organizations.

"A lot of people feel they're not represented on campus," Halfmann said.

This is not an "intolerant" or discriminatory organization, Halfmann said. Halfmann said he has a close cousin and classmates who are homosexual and he "has nothing against them." Any person, homosexual, bisexual or straight can join the organization, he said.

Many students are not aware of the organization yet, Halfmann said, because the organization will not be in full force until Fall Semester 1997. In addition, the process of becoming an official organization is relatively quiet, said Nancy Kluever, office secretary of the Student Organizations Office. Either Kluever or Janice Sheppard, director of the office, approve the charter themselves with no student input.

"We didn't turn down the Ten Percent Society," Kluever said. "And they worded (the mission statement) so that it wasn't discriminating."

Funds will be allocated to organizations this month, he said, and then the society will receive more attention.

"I was warned that it might get out of hand with other organizations," Halfmann said. "But I felt that there should be something else out there for (heterosexuals)."

The Ninety Percent Society will promote safe sex during National Condom Week this week on campus. It also plans to team up with other organizations such as Habitat For Humanity to serve food at local soup kitchens. Halfmann would also like to plan social events for the organization.

The idea of pro-heterosexual groups on college campuses is now a concern of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance. at Penn State.

Brent Bilodeau, assistant for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Concerns at Michigan State University, was speechless except for a "wow," when he learned about STRAIGHT at Penn State. There is no organization with a like purpose at Michigan State, he said.

Bilodeau said he could understand how the present atmosphere toward gays might foster this type of organization, but it is still not right in his opinion.

"As the power structure begins to shift, folks are tried," he said. "There are probably lots of people who talk about starting a white organization but there is a stigmatization of that type of belief . . . . In this society it is still appropriate to tell fag jokes."

At the University of Illinois at Chicago, there is an organization called the Heterosexual Illini Revival Organization, said President Adam Johnson. Johnson learned about an organization several years ago called the Heterosexual Illini Organization, from an alumni of the university who started it.

The alumni said he began the organization to get funds from the student government for a trip to Graceland with his friends, Johnson said. At that time, Johnson, who is a member of the student government now, said the government was going through changes and was somewhat disorganized.

Johnson and his friends "revived" the organization as a way to go to Graceland themselves, but he said they would not use student government funds to pay for the trip.

The organization is "a humorous and lighthearted organization," Johnson said. But he said he does not know why it was called the Heterosexual Illini Organization. The alumni founder of the organization could not be contacted.