Dean's Q-Tea brings important discussions and flamingo croquet

Dean’s Q-Tea brings important discussions and flamingo croquet

10/15/2015

Marissa Bean
Campus Life Editor

October is LGBT History Month, and there is no better way to celebrate than with tea.

Paula Krebs, Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted her annual tea event this week.The event is held every year in mid-Oct. to commemorate National Coming Out Day on Oct. 11.

The event was held on Oct. 13 in the RCC Small Ballroom. The theme of the event was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, a novel by Lewis Carroll written in the Victorian era. Krebs wore a Mad Hatter outfit through the event, which included a large hat and bowtie.

This year’s event was the fourth annual event of its kind. Krebs began the Dean’s Q-Tea in 2012 so that students could see that some faculty, staff, and administrators were out.

All attendees were asked to complete a quiz at the beginning of the event. The quiz covered both LGBTQ history as well as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Krebs led a brief discussion of the quiz, which included topics like the Stonewall Riots and legal issues regarding LGBTQ rights.

The event ended with a round of flamingo croquet, which is played in Carroll’s famed novel. Students played croquet with plastic flamingos, while faculty and staff in attendance served as the croquet hoops.

Krebs recognized that events like the Dean’s Q-Tea were unheard of only a generation ago. Similar events were not held when she and other staff and faculty were undergraduate students.

She also discussed the major legal victories for LGBTQ people since the first Dean’s Q-Tea only four years ago. These changes included the legalization of same-sex marriage in all fifty states, which occurred earlier this year.

Krebs’ also discussed the fact that microaggressions still occur on the BSU campus and other campuses across the United States, but she acknowledged that things are different now.

Krebs said, “Things are better than they used to be.”

Marissa Bean is the Campus Life Editor for The Comment. Follow her on Twitter @MarLaur16.