The First Eating Houses

 

Eating houses are a long-standing tradition at Davidson College. Today, eating houses are organizations primarily organized for female-identifying and non-binary students, but the first Davidson College eating house was actually founded in 1969, a few short years before the beginning of official coeducation in 1972. 

 

The first Davidson College eating house was the “Machis.” The Machis began in 1969 when the Sigma Chi house voted to disaffiliate from their national fraternity when the national organization refused to recognize Davidson student Mike Maloy as a member due to the "social acceptance" clause in their constitution which strongly discouraged the inclusion of Black students. In protest of this policy, along with other long running issues with the fraternity system, the Davidson College Sigma Chi house disafilliated and its former members formed the Machis (Roady, 1969). The Machis were a "social and eating club" that resembled a traditional fraternity, but encouraged members to actively take part in deciding the rules and traditions of the organization, thus setting the precedent for eating houses today  ("Machi Rush Booklet," 1970). 

 

Machis Yearbook Page, 1970.
Machi Rush Booklet, ca. 1970

As referenced in the "Machi Rush Booklet" brochure above, the fraternity system faced a breaking point in 1971 when Davidson's mandatory self-selection rule was enacted on campus to temper hazing issues brought on by fraternity rush. Self-selection put power into the hands of Davidson students by allowing them to join the house of their choice, but also took away the ability of Greek Life organizations to exclusively choose their new members. 

 

Davidson students petitioned for eating clubs to fill the empty Patterson Court houses left behind by fraternities ("Davidson celebrates decades of self selection," 2018). By the end of 1972, the original eating houses had opened on campus. 

 

(You can read more about this eating house history at the Davidson College Encyclopedia website: https://digitalprojects.davidson.edu/omeka/s/college-archives-davidson-encyclopedia/page/eating-houses)

 

 

In anticipation of the beginning of full coeducation in the 1972-1973 school year, much discussion took place amongst students and the administration about how female students would fit into student life at Davidson.

 

One significant question was how gender would impact admission within the fledgling eating house system. 

 

 

Co-Ed Eating Houses

 

In June 1972, before women appeared on campus in the fall, a report from the Special Sub-Committee on Coeducation proposed the following recomendations for incoming female students: 

 

"Recommendations of the Special Sub-Committee on Coeducation of the Student Life Committee." June 1972. Coeducation D-File.  Davidson College Archives, Davidson  NC. 

 

  • All women are to be treated as equal students with all rights and responsibilities as such, therefore every woman student may participate in self-selection if she so desires. 
  • Any woman student who self-selects into an eating house has all the rights of any member of that house (i.e. vote, jobs, etc.). 
  • No new national organizations shall be permitted to become chartered for service on Patterson Court which does not permit equal (men and women) national members.

 

This last recommendation regarding the exclusion of any new national organizations that did not permit equal male and female membership (despite several all-male fraternities existing alongside eating houses post-1971) was an early example of Davidson College's resistance towards female-specific Greek Life on campus. This aversion to sororities on campus initially turned some against the idea of Rusk and other all-female eating houses as they feared the houses would become sororities ("Women's House Announces Plans," 1977). 

 

With this in mind, per the committee's recommendations, all eating houses became coeducational after 1972. Women were able to join eating houses in accordance with the self-selection rule which allowed any Davidson student to have a fair chance of joining a student organization regardless of gender. 

 

In the three years between the adoption of full coeducation and the introduction of the first all-female eating house, the coed eating house with the largest female membership was Emanon, or "No Name" spelled backwards (Quips and Cranks, 1975). 

 

 

 

 

From the Emanon page of the 1975 Quips and Cranks yearbook: 

(...) Women have eaten at Emanon since its inception, and we now have the largest membership of women of any house on the court. While this may not be conducive to rowdiness, it makes the feeling of a “house” more complete. We are very proud of being a “house.”

 

Experiences of Women Students in Co-Ed Eating Houses

 

Vicki Switzer was the first woman to enroll at Davidson College after the trustees' 1972 coeducation desicion. She transferred to Davidson in her junior year and graduated in 1974.  In Switzer's oral history, she discusses her experiences within the overwhelmingly male Patterson Court social scene. Switzer states:

 

Switzer, Vicki. "Interview with Vicki Switzer '74." Interview by Schrimsher, Mimi and Emily Rankin. 4 October 2020. "Davidson College Women's History Project," Davidson College Archives and Special Collections.  

 

Vicki Switzer: [...] We had a much stricter dating scene than you guys do. So the parties were nearly all on [Patterson Court]. There wasn't— women didn't drink in the dorms and party in girl groups, if you will. It was all done on the court. So, you know, the court at that time was probably three quarters fraternities, and as we had talked about earlier, there were no eating houses for women. There was one eating house on the court that would allow women to join. So there was a party scene there, if you will.

 

And I went to some of those parties with my roommate who joined that house— [it] was called Emanon, and that's ‘No Name’ spelled backwards. It was a very hippie house. Lots of great people there, and they gave, you know, weekend events. [...] 

 

In Switzer's time, Emanon eating house had the largest female membership of all eating houses. It was so closely associated with women on Patterson Court that some students, like Switzer, assumed it was the only house that women could join at Davidson despite all eating houses techinically becoming coed in 1972. 

 

Dorothy "Cissi" Fulenwider Lyles (Davidson College class of 1979), remembers a more vibrant social scene for women at Davidson in her oral history, including the coed eating house PAX. Lyles was a member of PAX during her junior year. Lyles graduated from Davidson only five years after Vicki Switzer, but the growth of the female student population during those years meant there was a greater presence of women on Patterson Court than had been previously possible. Lyles explains:

 

Lyles, Dorothy "Cissi" Fulenwider. "Interview with Dorothy "Cissi" Fulwider Lyles '79." Interview by Prinos, Kerri and Christopher Mazariegos. 5 October 2020. "Davidson College Women's History Project, " Davidson College Archives and Special Collections. 

 

Cissi Lyles: But the really big difference [between Davidson College in 1979 and Davidson College in 2020] is that as these [big] changes occurred in the 70s, which included coeducation, and also included the move away from 80% of the student body being members of fraternities. And all that social kind of reconstruction–the houses on the court, there were a number of them that became coed eating houses. And so, even though you had some of the fraternities like you do now, there were certainly no women’s houses at the time, because there weren’t women to build them. But we had these coed eating houses and it was such a great experience because it was one of the places that you really did feel like life was really normal. 

 

People have a sense of who might belong where. Especially two, there was one called Emanon and one called PAX.  PAX is where Summit [on Patterson Court] is now, and it was the last one to go by the wayside. And Emanon was just beyond that, if you were going on around in a circle. And Emanon is "No Name" name spelled backwards because they couldn’t come up with a name. So they just called it Emanon. And PAX [eating house] is rho-alpha-chi, but they just decided to call it PAX, using the Greek letters.

 

And so both of them were the male and female, and I’m still really great friends with not just the women out of that house, but a lot of the men. 

 

Lyles' oral history highlights a benefit of coed eating houses, as she mentions how she developed significant friendships with both male and female students while a member of PAX. The opportunity to widen your social circle beyond gender boundaries was a popular argument amongst students for coed eating houses. This position kept coed eating houses on Patterson Court even after single-gender eating houses were introduced starting with Rusk in 1972. 

 

Vicki Switzer, 1974.
PAX Eating House, 1978.

RUSK (1977)

 

Profile: "Founded in 1977, Rusk Eating House was the first all-female eating house at Davidson College. Our founders wanted to create a place for the women of Davidson College to congregate, bond and better serve Davidson College and the community at large. Rusk values service, sincerity, community and acceptance, as well as excellent food. Scholarship is very important as well; we have held the highest GPA of all the Eating houses for the last 4 years. You can find a Ruskie in just about every campus activity and major, and there is no one stereotype."

(From Wildcat Sync: https://wildcatsync.davidson.edu/organization/rusk-house) 

 

Service: "Rusk's service focus is on food insecurity in the Davidson and greater Charlotte area. This semester, Rusk has partnered with Ada Jenkins' program, LEARNWorks, and we have "Operation Sandwich" service events to make sandwiches for food pantries. Ruskies also attended Dance Marathon to raise money for Levine Children's Hospitals, and we planned our annual Hunger Games event, which made $1,500!"

 

Mascot: The Rusky Cow. 

 

Colors: Pink and Blue. 

(From the Rusk House Website: https://ruskeatinghouse.weebly.com/)

 

The Founding of Rusk

 

In early 1977, the first all-female eating house was proposed by female students. They presented a list of signatures to the administration of potential members waiting to join. Women were excited for a chance to have a space of their own on campus, but several arguments arose across campus against the new eating house ("Women's House Announces Plans", 1977). Some were concerned that an all-female organization would be "reverse discrimination" against male students, or that an all female eating house would inevitably turn into a sorority ("Women's House to Add Diversity", 1977). 

 

 

"Women's House Announces Plans," Pam Camerra. The Davidsonian, April 8, 1977. 

"The major reason for starting the house was to establish unity and to give the girls a center," said Holly Gnagey, house manager of Rusk House, the new women's eating group on Patterson Court. 

 

Gnagey, who came to Davidson as a transfer student from Goucher College (Maryland), believes that the women on this campus have a need for some sort of base or outlet. “There are times when you need girlfriends to talk to, and with such a competitive atmosphere, it’s often hard to meet girls. We’re trying to help solve or at least relieve this problem,” said Gnagey (...)

 

In the Davidsonian article below, student Bill Barnett addresses arguments against all-female eating houses and advocates for Rusk. In Barnett's article, Rusk was originally envisioned as an organization that would cater towards women, but Rusk would also be open to membership from both men and women in compliance of the Patterson Court self-selection rule. Over time Rusk and subsequent female eating houses would write in their by-laws that their membership was exclusively reserved for women, and later, all gender minorities. 

 

 

"Women's House to Add Diversity," Bill Barnett. The Davidsonian, January 21, 1977. 

It would only seem fair that if males can join all male groups, then females should also have that choice. The argument which then occurs is that an all-female eating house would be discriminatory against males, a violation of the Patterson Court regulations. In reality though, this is not a problem at all. The house could be chartered as a non discriminatory eating house, but also stating that its intention is to cater to the female population.

 

(...) Another of the complaints people have about an all female eating house is that it would soon become a sorority, with all of a sorority’s undesirable aspects such as excluding some girls from membership. No one can predict the future, but the girls who have organized the house say that it will be chartered in such a way that it would not become a sorority. 

 

Rusk Yearbook Page, 1978.

After Rusk, women on campus campaigned for a space where they could convene and discuss the specific challenges they faced as female students at Davidson. The Davidson College Women's Center was introduced in 1980 as the second place for women to connect on campus; but unlike Rusk, the Women's Center was not a social hub, but a resource center.

 

According to the Women Center's budget proposal, "the Center seeks to promote emotional and political development by providing a meeting place, resources and progressive programming." However, the Women's Center quickly lost momentum due to a lack of student interest, as well as insufficient funding. By 1982, female students presented Davidson College administration with a strong demand to replace the Women's Center with another all-female eating house that could accomodate a larger number of women. Warner Hall would soon take the Center's place as a space for women.

 

 

WARNER (1982)

 

Profile:  "Warner Hall House, named after the first Senior Minister of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, was founded in 1982. Since 2004, the members of Warner Hall have supported HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness initiatives through partnerships with the Mwandi Christian Mission Hospital in Zambia and RAIN: Regional AIDS Interfaith Network in Charlotte. Warner Hall supports these causes with its annual Red and Black Ball every Fall, and a benefit concert every Spring. Warner Hall is dedicated to providing Davidson College women with opportunities in leadership and personal growth while also promoting friendship and fellowship among its members through meals and social events."

(From WildCat Sync: https://wildcatsync.davidson.edu/organization/warner-hall-house)

 

Service: "In 2004, Warner Hall House selected HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention to be the main focus of our service and fundraising efforts. Warner Hall is currently partnered with two organizations: the Regional Aids Interfaith Network (RAIN) in Charlotte, North Carolina and the Mwandi Christian Mission Hospital in Zambia, Africa. Each year, Warner Hall hosts several HIV/AIDS awareness fundraising events. Our service efforts conclude with our annual Red and Black Ball in December, which features a live band, silent auction, raffle, and desserts bar. Our funds have helped the Mwandi Hospital build a new emergency room and intensive care unit and also sponsored RAIN’s support services to persons living with HIV/AIDS in the greater Charlotte area."

 

Mascot: Parrot. 

 

Colors: Red and Black. 

(From Warner Hall website: http://warnerhall.weebly.com/)

 

The Founding of Warner

 

By 1982, the female student body at Davidson had grown significantly, leading to the proposal of a new women's eating house to help alleviate the overcrowding of Rusk House.

 

Letter to Council on Campus and Religious Life from Inter-Fraternity Council, Re: Proposal for a new national fraternity to join those on Patterson Court. 12 September 1981. R.G. 6/14.4, Student Government Association. Senate Discussion-Patterson Court- Women's Eating House Proposal, 1982. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. 

“We believe the addition of the all-girls eating house will help strengthen the social system on Patterson Court and help alleviate the tremendous over-crowding at Rusk House. The addition of the “women’s center” would not accomplish any of those goals. The women of the “women’s center” do not need a social house to discuss their issues nearly as much as the large number of women who want to begin another all-girls eating house similar to Rusk House. This eating house would be a great addition to Patterson Court.”

SPENCER (1985 - 1992)

 

In 1985, Spencer House became the third women’s eating house. Similar to Warner, Spencer was founded because of overcrowding at the other two eating houses. This overcrowding was caused by an increasing female student population interested in joining the eating house system ("Spencer House Proposal and Signatures," c. 1985).

 

Spencer House Proposal and Signatures. Circa 1985. R.G. 6/14.4, Student Government Association. Senate Discussion-Patterson Court- Women's Eating House Proposal, 1982. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. 

 

Spencer House Proposal and Signatures, 1985.

Spencer replaced the coed Fannie and Mable Eating House that closed on Patterson Court the same year. Today, Davidson College's eating houses are long running institutions (Turner, the youngest eating house, was established in 1998), but in the 1980s, Patterson Court saw significant eating house turnover as student preferences shifted from coed to single gender houses.

 

When Spencer was proposed in 1985, the Council on Campus and Religious Life agreed that a new eating house for women was necessary, but some were concerned that it would further corrode the place of coed eating houses in student life ("Kuykendall Approves All Women's Eating House", 1985). 

 

"Kuykendall Approves All Women's Eating House," Lee White. The Davidsonian, February 8, 1985. 

According to sophomore Connie Clark and freshman Cameron Chalmers, who led efforts to establish the new house, the house will be called Spencer house, in honor of former Davidson President Samuel R. Spencer, Jr. In a letter accepting the honor, Clark said, Spencer mentioned his pride in the fact that it was during his administration that Davidson became a co-ed institution. Spencer House will open next fall term. This spring, Clark and Chalmers hope to have a social calendar. The new house would occupy either the former ATO or F and M houses.

 

(...) According to CCRL [Commitee on Campus and Relgious Life] member Beth Mackza, the evidence of support for a new house from those who wish to join and those in other eating houses convinced her. She noted, however, a possible effect on the co-ed houses. “The general concern [at the meeting] was for the co-ed houses, she said. Laughlin also referred to the apprehension about the remaining co-ed houses and said he hoped they could “survive and thrive.”

 

As it turned out, the concern for coed eating houses was not ill-founded. Spencer would be the last female eating house established before the remaining coed houses closed on Patterson Court in 1990. It would not be until the CoHo House was established in 2000 that coed houses would return to Davidson. Spencer closed its doors in 1992 ("Eating Houses," Davidson Encyclopedia). 

 

 

CONNOR (1991)

 

Profile: "Connor House is a women and gender minorities' service and social organization made up of 180+ members from all over the country. Connor House, a member of the Patterson Court Community, was founded in 1991 at Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. Following in the steps of our founding namesake, Carol Connor Willingham ’77, Connor House strives to uphold strong values of leadership by serving the surrounding community. Connor's Mission Statement: Connor House is a venue for interaction and companionship for members of the Davidson College student body. Connor House provides dining, social, service, and community activities for its members, and aims to promote sisterhood through collaborative service and philanthropy to the greater community."

(From WildCat Sync: https://wildcatsync.davidson.edu/organization/connor-house) 

 

Service: "Connor House Bosom Buddies is an entirely student-run non-profit service initiative with the mission to spread awareness about breast cancer and early detection, to aid and support those currently suffering from breast cancer, and to raise research funds for Friends for an Earlier Breast Cancer Test, a Greensboro-based organization that works toward finding alternative methods of earlier breast cancer detection."

 

Mascot: Jester. 

 

Colors: Purple and Green.

(From Connor House wesbite: https://connorhouse.weebly.com/)

 

The Founding of Connor

 

Connor Eating House, introduced in 1991, was the first eating house named after a female alumna. Carol Connor Willingham (Davidson College Class of 1977), the house's namesake, was part of the first graduating group of women at Davidson College. She attended Davidson at a time when coed eating was the only option available to women, and she reflects on her engagement in student life in her 2020 oral history. 

 

Willingham, Carol Connor. "Interview with Carol Connor Willingham '77." Interview by Auberry, Laura and Sophie Wolf.  5 October 2020. History of Gender and Sexuality at Davidson College Project, Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. 

 

Carol Connor Willingham: (...) There were the national fraternities and then there were coed eating houses. I’ll miss somebody, but Emanon, Fannie and Mabel are two that I remember. I didn't feel led to be a part of any of that. I was very happy. I think they were called Rusk and Bailey, and there was another little one of the Patterson court houses. So there were three houses that would serve your meals. We didn't have Vail Commons or anything like that. So, there were just these small houses where unaffiliated people would go to get their meals.

 

I was always unaffiliated and, there was a little bit of some interest, maybe my junior year, at bringing a sorority to campus. I think it was Chi O, I'm not real sure. And for the most part, the women did not feel a need to be divided, there were so few of us and so—I was not supportive of bringing that on campus. I assume most people were not, because it didn't happen and I never felt that I missed anything by not being a part of an eating house, which would have been my only option as a woman, because there were no sororities and there was no Rusk and Connor and Turner and all of that.

 

Willingham remembers opposing sororities coming to Davidson College. At the time, she believed that the female population was so small so they did not need any further division, but the increase in women students over the next 20 years led to the creation of the Connor Eating House, as well as renewed interest in bringing sororities to Davidson.  Unlike the small women's population of Willingham's time, the Davidson female student population had grown so substantially that a fourth women's eating house was neccessary to accomodate them, showing how much Davidson had changed since the beginning of coeducation. 

 

From "Formation of a New Women's Eating House Discussed," Tom Price. The Davidsonian, September 16, 1991. 

 

Although some feel that this year may be too optimistic a goal for creating a new house, the growth in overall student enrollment (from 1400 to 1600 by the end of the decade) seems to indicate that another eating house will soon be formed. Aside from the numbers, many want to see a fourth female eating house because of the disproportinate sizes of the three current houses. Spencer is currently much smaller than Warner Hall or Rusk. Both Warner Hall and Rusk are so large that it is becoming difficult to feed and accomodate their members. Laura Cunningham, a Junior member of Rusk said, "If you are five minutes late for dinner now there is a good possibility that you won't get any food. There are just so many people eating down there."

 

(...) Some women feel that the presence of a new house may endanger Spencer which is currently much smaller than the other two houses. Tammy Winn, Spencer president, said, "I personally think a fourth house is a good idea, but I would like to strengthen what we have."

 

 

TURNER (1998)

 

Profile: "Turner House was founded in 1998 and opened in the Fall in order to accommodate the demand for another eating house. It is named after Catherine Turner, class of 1993, for her role as a service coordinator while at Davidson. Members that signed up during the proposal for Turner in the Spring of 1998 totaled 78. The first President was Mary Shell Brosche and the mascot is a frog."

 

(From Wildcat Sync: https://wildcatsync.davidson.edu/organization/turner-house) 

 

Service: "The aim of Turner’s community engagement is to provide intentional and genuine support to local, service-based causes that reflect the passions of the current house population. With Community Care as our mission, Turner House is able to adapt to an ever-changing sociopolitical landscape by reevaluating where it focuses its efforts every year based on which issues seem most prevalent. Well-established partnerships with both Davidson and Charlotte-based organizations, alongside initiatives to cultivate new connections, aid in building community while directly giving back to the spaces we inhabit."

 

Mascot: Frog. 

 

Colors: Blue and Green. 

(From the Turner House website: https://turnerhouseblog.wordpress.com/about/) 

 

Turner House Proposal, Circa 1998. R.G. 6/14.4, Student Government Association Records. PCC Proposals 1998. Davidson College Archives, Davidson, NC. 

 

Turner House Proposal, 1998.
"Campus Chronicle," Davidson Journal, Fall 1998

Turner eating house was established and named after Catherine Turner (Davidson College Class of 1993) in 1998. Turner served as Davidson College's community service coordinator for three years following graduation and continued her community-minded work as Assistant Director of the Ada Jenkins Center. According to the Fall 1998 edition of the Davidson Journal, linked above: 

 

"House president Mary Shell Broche said the 80 Turner House members chose the name because "Catherine's ideals are those we'd like to take on as a house. She's an outstanding person in the community and we wanted to reflect our ideals in a meaningful way."

 

Turner continues this legacy of leadership and service to this day.

 

 

Eating Houses Today

 

Single gender eating houses for women became the norm at Davidson after the closure of the last coed eating house, Co-Ho, in 2002. At the time of Rusk's founding, it was intially proposed that any student should technically be allowed membership to single gender houses regardless of their gender, in accordance with self-selection regulations (see the 1977  "Women's House to Add Diversity"  Davidsonian article in the Rusk section, above). By the 1980s, the by-laws of single gender eating houses became explicit in the fact they were organizations meant for female-identifying students, as can be seen in the Spencer House by-laws below. 

 

Spencer House By-Laws. Circa 1985.  RG 6/14.36, Spencer Women's Eating House, Charters and By-laws. Davidson Archives, Davidson College.  

 

This club is established with the purpose of providing women at Davidson an avenue for female interaction, companionship, and support. With this purpose in mind, Spencer House is, first, an Eating club and social establishment for those who through self-selection at Davidson College are assigned to take their meals there; and second, an organization through which members of Spencer House may be involved in service and community activities. (...)

 

Exclusively female language in eating house by-laws remained the norm at Davidson College until around 2018 (the most recent by-laws that the Archives could find mentioning female-exclusive membership was Warner Hall's 2018 by-laws, and it  is unclear which year the official switch to "gender minorities" ocurred in the records).

 

After this date, all of Davidson’s eating houses opened their membership to those identifying as gender minorities. This language refers to non-binary and transgender students. This was a conscious effort by eating houses to be inclusive towards gender identities beyond cisgender women, while still remaining aware of their legacy as safe spaces for women students on Davidon’s historically male campus. 

 

Eating houses remain popular student organizations at Davidson College and many students find comfort and community in Davidson's eating house system. In the Davidsonian article below, Madison Abbott (Davidson College Class of 2018), writes about her postive experience joining an eating house as a first year student. Even though this was at least two years prior to eating houses including non-binary and transgender students, Abbott notes how the self-selection process was progressing towards conscious inclusivity. 

 

Abbott, Madison. "An Initated Freshman Reflects on Self-Selected Events," The Davidsonian, February 3, 2016. 

This year there was also a shift in the eating house dynamic for a number of reasons. First of all, more freshman women are joining eating houses than ever. This can be attributed to a number of reasons, but the self selection committee this year has a lot to do with it. 

 

(...) The attitudes of these eight friends [of the committee] made the self selection much more relaxed and enticing. The cohesiveness of the self-selection committee proved that the houses are indeed very diverse and therefore alleviated a lot of pressure and nerves. “People are finally realizing that being in an eating house doesn’t necessarily define you,” Granowsky said. “You get to hang out with great girls and do philanthropy and it won’t take over your life. I think the houses have grown and no one stereotype is true. The houses are very diverse.”

 

To some Davidson students, the exclusivity of eating houses as spaces for women seems less neccessary than it did in 1977. Women were considered "minority students" in the early years of coeducation. Davidson must consider how widely-accepted cultural understandings of gender have broadened since Rusk's founding in 1977, and how Davidson as a campus has changed.

 

Students today have only known Davidson College as a campus with a larger population of women than men, and as a campus with a wide variety of women-specific organizations and resources. This, combined with a move away from the limitations of the gender binary and gendered language at Davidson College, has caused some Davidson students to raise concerns that eating houses' adherence to being spaces for women makes them antiquated and discriminatory organizations. For example, even though non-binary and transgender students are now able to join eating houses, cisgender men are still barred from membership. 

 

Ross Hickman (Davidson College Class of 2022) applied to Turner while identifying as a queer cisgender man because they wanted to join their friends who were members of the eating house. Hickman was barred from joining until they began to openly identify as non-binary. They write about their experience in the Davidsonian article below. 

 

Hickman, Ross. “Editorial: Exclusion, Harm, and Disillusionment at Davidson”, The Davidsonian,  November 10, 2021. 

In the Spring, I had been an unwelcome threat to the culture of the institution. In the fall, I was to be a cherished initiate in the rites of this newly open and accepting queer community. I felt then, as now, the gnawing, agonizing, dulling realization that our social world at Davidson is predicated on ways of cisgender and heterosexual living to which I will never have experiential or relational connection. 

(...) If we are to live up to our liberal ideals of diversity and inclusion in any significant way, we must disestablish the fraternities and eating houses at the college.” 

 

Bibliography

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