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Free Speech Wall

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Lehigh chapter.

 

I’m sure you have noticed the giant white board on the front lawn, if you have not happened to stumble upon it yet please do. Scrawled with useless graffiti and tag lines, the board also shows a side to campus life that is not usually seen. Of course, some juvenile peers wrote meaningless frat or sorority tags and little jokes but there was something about the wall that jumped out to me. Right there in big letters someone announced that they are an out lesbian on campus and they do not feel safe. Arrows pointing directly to it declared there were others in this woman’s situation. Other inscriptions on the board declared Lehigh’s homophobia and conservative nature. Being an out gay person on campus myself, I felt for these people. Although I am perfectly happy here and have had practically no trouble, there are many gay and lesbian people that do. Numerous closeted people in Greek life aren’t willing to come out because they fear the way the will be viewed by their brothers or sisters. This is a detriment to our Lehigh community when people cannot openly express who they are.  Other writings on the board pointed to other hardships with various groups on campus. To me the board was a visual representation of Lehigh’s lack of diversity and sense of community. I thought Lehigh was the norm when it came to Greek life and diversity, until I visited another university in Michigan. The schools colors, green and white, are everywhere you look. They’re on every student, draped on every building, stickers covering laptops.  I would love to look around campus and just see brown and white everywhere. I hope one day our campus will be just as diverse and inclusive as many others.