A graduate student and an alum of Indiana University of Pennsylvania have both come forward with complaints about a business professor who has bullied them in front of their classmates for being gay.
In the most recent incident, the topic of sex-reassignment surgery came up during a lecture, and the unnamed professor then turned the discussion to homosexuality. She said being gay is "disgusting, unnatural, and abnormal." Lesbian grad student Christina Santiago asked the professor whether she and other LGBT students should actually be considered that way. The professor replied yes and then went on to complain about being forced to take part in diversity training to the amusement of other students in the classroom, according to a KDKA News report.
Santiago is no longer enrolled in the course. She has also filed a complaint with the school and has contacted the American Civil Liberties Union for possible assistance. Students also held a rally in support of Santiago after the incident took place.
A statement from the university's faculty union read, "We understand that [these] accusations are serious and need to be investigated by the university. At the same time, we advocate for the rights of the faculty and the processes for investigating complaints against faculty must be followed."
Alum Michael Heller, who is gay told KDKA News that he faced the same professor five years ago who said, "God created Adam and Even, not Adam and Steve, and that being gay was an abomination." Heller said the professor added that "anybody that was gay was going to burn in Hell, and that's what they deserved."
Heller said the situation in the classroom drove him to walk out of the room in tears. He complained to IUP's administrators, but he said he's frustrated that the problem persists for students years later.
