Out at Hampshire.

Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., is a progressive and somewhat untraditional school where students are expected to be self-motivated and professors are called by their first names. So it may come as no surprise that the university's new president, Ralph Hexter, is a gay man. But for an out gay person to receive the top college appointment is still a rare occurrence in the United States--one that sparked the interest of queer student Elizabeth Orr. So the 21-year-old Hampshire film and philosophy major decided to sit down with the former Yale University professor, who lives with his partner, Manfred Kollmeier, on a late October afternoon to ask him about queer life on campus.

How important is it for you to be out?

I decided long ago that there was no advantage in not being honest. I am not going to create a different set of rules for me than I take to be the standard rules for social change.

Do you think that your sexual orientation could have influenced your selection as president?

Well, it would be charming to think that my being gay was an advantage. There is no affirmative action for gays and lesbians.

Will you get involved in gay life at Hampshire?

Obviously I am the president of all students and want to be involved. I also understand that it must be interesting for a gay or lesbian student to have a gay president.

Are you familiar with the gay student organizations here?

[We have] the Queer Community Alliance and the Trans Student Alliance. Although Hampshire is very accepting, the QCA is an important place for people to talk about their experiences with gender. But the TSA is different; people tend to be more transphobic than homophobic on campus. I think that trans people are at a frontier that gays and lesbians were at 20 to 30 years ago.