BFC slated to vote on Peter Pace resolution today

It’s been almost two years since former Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace’s quote against homosexual acts appeared in the Chicago Tribune, but its controversy is still part of the public dialogue at IU.

The Bloomington Faculty Council will meet today to take action on a resolution “expressing its regret Gen. Pace was brought to campus in a way that was offensive to the gay and lesbian community.”

The Diversity and Affirmative Action Committee, a committee within the council, wrote the resolution because the Kelley School of Business granted Pace the position of Poling Chair despite his personal views that homosexual acts are immoral.

Alex Tanford, the committee chair, said the purpose of the resolution is to recognize how giving the award to Pace was offensive to the homosexual community, and that the resolution is an iconic response to the Kelley School’s choice.

“One fights symbolism with symbolism,” Tanford said. “What they did was symbolically very offensive.”

Tanford compared the Kelley School’s act of honoring Pace as equivalent to awarding a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and that no one on campus would think that was appropriate.

Gays constitute “the most discriminated minority on campus and in the country,” Tanford said. “Somebody said gay is the new black.”

The resolution has received mixed feedback from members of the council, and Tanford said he cannot predict how the council will vote.

Regardless of whether the resolution passes, Kelley School Dean Dan Smith said in an e-mail that the school honored Pace because of his leadership experience, not because of his personal ideas.

“I am somewhat surprised that people want to focus on General Pace’s religion-based beliefs, beliefs he is entitled to hold,” Smith said. “It is my understanding that the chief criterion for honoring a faculty member or invited speaker is his or her professional credentials.”

But for Dan Sloat, IU Student Association vice president and an undergraduate member of the council, the controversy over Pace has an impact extending beyond the gay and lesbian community.

Sloat is also a Kelley student, and he said the dialogue about Pace could affect how the campus views the business school.

“Through my time here, I’ve noticed there are some pretty clear divides between Kelley and non-Kelley students,” Sloat said. “Kelley School students kind of have a reputation for being cool and aloof, and just kind of this attitude that we’re better than everyone else on campus.”

Sloat said continued conversation about Pace could widen this divide.

“Every time there’s something that comes up that really highlights that Kelley versus non-Kelley dynamic, I feel it hurts the University as a whole,” Sloat said. “It shows in some ways we have biases within our own community.”

Despite the controversy, Smith said Pace will still be an asset to all IU students, not just Kelley students, in his future visits.

“People are focusing on last fall’s visit by General Pace,” Smith said in an e-mail.
“They are completely overlooking the fact that he will be here multiple times in the future and that we can find ways to have a wider audience at IU engage with him.”