Ember Duke | layout editor

In Sept. 2019, what started as typical event coverage for The Duke turned to a much bigger story, which sparked discussion of censorship and LGBTQ+ inclusivity at Duquesne and brought a swath of media attention to campus.

Promotional materials for the 2018 show depicted a runway model in a leather apron dress. The following year, administration asked that “gender neutral language” be omitted from the event and its promotions on account of complaints over the 2018 flyers, according to The Duke at the time.

A week after The Duke’s initial article and the subsequent local media buzz, the university walked back its stance, allowing the event to proceed with “gender neutral” in the title.

Then editor-in-chief, Ollie Gratzinger, found the story through preliminary reporting on the fashion show and then reported on the issue through its entirety, said Hallie Lauer, news editor at the time.

“We met as the editors to kind of be like ‘Okay, this might be a bit of a bigger story than we had initially thought,” she said. “We decided to write the story, not only about the fashion show itself, but the censorship stuff going on behind the scenes.”

A version of Gratzinger’s article was published by Pittsburgh Magazine the same day as The Duke article. Gratzinger was unable to be reached for comment.

In the week that followed other outlets such as Pittsburgh City Paper, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Foundation For Individual Rights in Education reported on it. The Pitt News admonished the university’s decision in a staff editorial. FIRE, in Oct. 2020, cited the events as an issue of censorship in a letter to the assistant secretary of the Department of Education.

The Faculty Senate, a group of faculty representatives from each school, formed a subcommittee to make recommendations on improving LGBTQ+ inclusivity on campus, partially in response to the initial censorship of the fashion show, said Lanei Rodemyer, philosophy professor and founding member of the committee. The committee made several recommendations to the university, many of which were implemented, Rodemeyer said.

“There was movement with regard to gender neutral bathrooms … and there was actually a map made after that that specifically identified all gender neutral bathrooms on campus,” she said.

The committee mostly worked on data collection from campus and other universities through discussions with stakeholders, such as students and residence life.

Despite uncertainties regarding inclusivity at a federal level, “LGBT students should know that they are highly supported by faculty and staff and students as well as Duquesne,” Rodemeyer said. “That support is going to continue regardless of decisions about visibility moving forward.”

The event, which was a collaborative effort between student organization The Gender Forum and the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, hosted an academic panel discussion prior to the show. Emma Shirey, president of The Gender Forum at the time, which has since been dissolved, said she remembers feeling the weight of the story when she was interviewed for it in The Duke office.

In the days and weeks after the story broke, Shirey and faculty members from WGS were involved in numerous talks with administration. She said the initial administrative reaction to the event was a sign of more systematic issues, but it issued a new wave of inclusivity at the university.

“I think we put ourselves on the map as a queer campus,” she said.

Laura Engel, professor of English, who spoke at the original panel said since starting at the university in 2004, she has seen strides in LGBTQ+ inclusivity on campus, such as an advent of queer student organizations.

“It’s important for us to shed light on what’s going on in the world and also try to provide a space for people to talk about their fears and their anxieties, but also to celebrate their accomplishments and their joys,” she said.

Engel said the event drew approximately 400 guests. Students and faculty from both Duquesne and neighboring universities attended.

“It was just the most people that we’ve ever gotten to an event and it was a show of incredible solidarity,” she said. “It was a real Pittsburgh community.”

Josiah Martin, arts and entertainment editor at the time, said he distinctly remembers Gratzinger being approached by faculty members who wanted to talk on the record for the story.

“That was kind of a big moment. That’s when we knew it was going to be a more important story,” Martin said.

He lauded the university for maintaining that The Duke be an independent publication.

“The role of the student newspaper is you are really the sole voice for a lot of different communities in a weird little micro town that has its own little government and its own little issues and its own series of events that simply wouldn’t get the attention from the broader world,” Martin said.

Though The Duke staff never expected the story to garner headlines off-campus, it was nonetheless a growing moment, Lauer said.

“It really prompted us to try to look a little bit deeper at some of the other things that were going on,” Lauer said. “Fortunately, we never found any other specific censorship from the university on clubs, but it led us to start looking there into being a little bit more critical.”