During Christopher Newport University’s freshmen orientation, Setting Sail, a video was posted on Facebook by the parent of a freshman, making fun of a student orientation leader. The video was of the student orientation leader dancing with a poster and the post claimed that students must go through “LGBTQ indoctrination.” The video, posted on June 17, showed Ellyson dancing during the opening session where parents and students would be greeted.
Sam Ellyson, the student featured in the video, said, “We were told to dance and be excited as the freshmen are coming in” for the first event of Setting Sail.
In the post, the parent said, “This is a state funded university in Virginia. We have a Republican Governor, Lt. Governor, and AG and they continue to fund this madness with no repercussions.” The parent continued on with complaints about CNU’s promotion of the LGBTQ on “taxpayer dime.”
The post continued with the poster saying that CNU and other state schools are the only ones that allow veterans to use their benefits and said that parents should not have to send their kids elsewhere because it is a “State funded institution is not an indoctrination camp.”
As well as saying that members of the LGBTQ+ community should be the most upset as they have been fighting to “blend in” and instead now have “these freak shows” turning the people against them. The poster also implied that a breakout session titled the LGBTQ+ Student Experience was mandatory for students.
When the post went up Ellyson was contacted by Vice President of Student Affairs Kevin Hughes to talk to him about the incident and how he was feeling about it, which he did. Hughes in his initial email to Ellyson called it a “ridiculous social media issue.”
Ellyson, a member of the LGBTQ community, said, “When it happened, I was incredibly angry,” however his thoughts went more to the incoming freshman. Ellyson was concerned about the repercussions the video would have on incoming LGBTQ freshmen. No students that he talked to had seen the post.
