Essay written Aug. 2006

Corey Dargel (right) with bandmates Cesar Alvarez (’03) and Sheila Donovan (’01) on tour in Nottingham, England. Courtesy of Corey Dargel.

Corey Dargel (left) with bandmates Sheila Donovan (’01) and Cesar Alvarez (’03) on tour in London, England. Courtesy of Corey Dargel.
(Stull is now the Dean of Oberlin Conservatory, and Dodson is now provost of New England Conservatory.)
They informed us that our posters violated Oberlin’s Sexual Harassment Policy. This contention was absurd enough to make me laugh out loud. There was absolutely nothing obscene about the posters. The men were all wearing pants (or, if they weren’t, you couldn’t see below their waists to tell); there was no profanity; and all of the source material was taken from mainstream periodicals and local papers that can be found in “family-friendly” places.
It was clear to Deans Dodson and Stull that they needed to help me recognize the seriousness of the situation, so they explained with conviction that the posters had created what the Sexual Harassment Policy refers to as “an uncomfortable or threatening atmosphere.” Rob and I expressed our confusion over how someone might find these posters intimidating. It turns out that Dodson’s and Stull’s concern was for the young children who attend Oberlin Conservatory’s preparatory training programs. Though they could not present any evidence of complaints, the Deans were certain that parents would not be pleased to have their precious child prodigies exposed to such sexually “threatening” propaganda.
It didn’t seem to occur to Deans Dodson and Stull that throughout the campus there were other posters for other events that were much more “threatening” than Rob’s and my posters. If you walked across the College campus on any given day, you’d see at least one overtly sexual poster. Conservatory students have (or had, when I was there) a reputation for being disengaged from the College. Perhaps the same was true for Deans Dodson and Stull. The Conservatory, by definition, tends to encourage a much more conservative atmosphere than the College, but I never had a sense that anyone in a position of power was homophobic, except for these two men.

Corey Dargel at Dixon Place in New York, NY. Courtesy of Corey Dargel.
Since then, Rob and I have gone our separate ways. He’s making music with multiple bands in the Bay Area. I’m living in Brooklyn and just released my debut solo album, Less Famous Than You. Rob and I will soon be collaborating on new projects thanks to the magic of high-speed internet.
[For more about Corey, see Automatic Heartbreak.]