Rep. Paulsen faces opposition at St. Olaf commencement

The choice of Rep. Erik Paulsen as commencement speaker at St. Olaf College in Northfield has prompted students there to engage in a silent demonstration against the freshman House member. Paulsen, a St. Olaf alum and a Republican representing suburban Hennepin County, recently voted against the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in federal hate crimes law. Students say the vote doesn’t reflect the values of the college.

When Benjamin Refling, a transgender man, learned of the vote, he contacted college president David R. Anderson.

“I told him I did not think that the choice of a politician with such divisive views would be conducive to the spirit of commencement, which should be a celebration of all the diverse talents and experiences of the class of ’09,” Refling said. “And that many LGBT students would be alienated by Paulsen’s refusal to support the recent hate crimes bill.”

The hate crimes bill, which passed the U.S. House, would add sexual orientation and gender identity to U.S. hate crimes law, which currently only covers crimes on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin.

The religious right, including Paulsen’s colleague Rep. Michele Bachmann, has argued against such inclusions by conflating sexual orientation with crimes such as pedophilia. James Dobson, the former head of Focus on the Family, lent his organization’s support to Paulsen in a letter to voters last fall.

Refling said he wasn’t expecting the college to cancel Paulsen’s speech but rather to issue an understanding response; that wasn’t what he got. “[Anderson] wrote to me that any commencement speaker would have to offend someone in the audience, and essentially, it was my bad luck that I just happened to be that ’1 out of 5,000.’”

So Refling posted the exchange to his Facebook page and found that many students shared his concerns.

“The issue of LGBT rights is a sensitive one to St. Olaf students, some of whom have known victims of anti-LGBT violence in addition to being allies themselves, and the discussion that followed seems to have swept the entire campus,” he said.

The students are holding a demonstration by pinning gold ribbons to their graduation gowns as a symbol of inclusion. They also sent an email to the entire campus urging others to support the gold ribbon campaign. They wrote:

Inclusiveness is a definitive value at our institution. It guides St. Olaf through divisiveness and keeps our community relevant, diverse and cohesive. This year the commencement speaker, Representative Erik Paulsen ’87 (R-MN), is a member of our St. Olaf family, and brings his own unique voice to local and national politics. His beliefs are not singularly representative of St. Olaf, but rather constitute one part of the sum of our diverse family. While we welcome his voice, a group of St. Olaf students with their own voices do not share his views on many social issues.

Just as Erik Paulsen will share his viewpoint at commencement, those in the St. Olaf community who respectfully disagree with Representative Paulsen will also express themselves. A group of students from all different backgrounds have organized and is proposing the following, under the theme: “Celebrating the Class of 2009 as They Are – Created Equally.

Paulsen’s office didn’t respond to a weekend request for comment, but Refling said that another student contacted the office and was told the commencement address would not be political in nature.

Wade Hauser, president of student government, said he didn’t think the college would change the speaker. “Paulsen was picked quite a while ago,” he said. “Some people were unhappy with that, but he’s an alum and I think people understood.”

“More recently, because of that specific vote, people have started paying attention to his past record.”

Hauser said it could be an effective demonstration. “I wouldn’t be surprised if that took off,” he said, referring to the golden ribbons.

The commencement controversy comes at the same time President Obama’s commencement at Notre Dame University drew anti-abortion protesters resulting in nearly 40 arrests.

Minnesota Independent reporter Chris Steller contributed to this report.