Sexist, Homophobic Jokes by U. of Richmond Trustee

The University of Richmond is receiving scrutiny after one of its most generous donors and trustees, Paul Queally, was featured making sexist and homophobic jokes in a New York Magazine article about a gathering of wealthy business leaders (that they thought was private). Queally told The Richmond Times-Dispatch: "My brief remarks were in the spirit of the event but they do not reflect my views or my values. On reflection I should have said nothing. I understand that people who do not know me or my work may misinterpret what I said. I believe my record in support of education, diversity and economic advancement defines who I am and what I stand for." The university has not criticized the remarks, but did release a statement in which it said that the Richmond board “reaffirms the commitment of each of its members to promoting opportunity, inclusivity, civility and respect.”

Faculty members in the university's women's, gender and sexuality studies program have published a letter in the student newspaper that criticizes not only the jokes, but the university leadership's failure to see them as a serious problem. "Queally’s comments cannot be minimized as simply unfortunate," the letter says. "Nor is the central problem with his comments that they have generated negative attention to the university. Rather, the central problem with trustee Queally’s comments is that they contribute to the larger and quite insidious social discourse that dehumanizes women and LGBTQ people. His comments, in other words, contribute to human suffering. We, therefore, reiterate our call on senior leadership to allow the gravity of that insight to inform the content and urgency of its engagement with the university community."