DRAG QUEENS AND GREASED PIGS: UA lobbyist Randy Massanelli covered both at the legislature today.

A joint meeting of the House and Senate state agencies committee was less of a spectacle than I expected because the University of Arkansas had already engaged in damage control after unhappiness arose about an archival project to gather information about community drag shows in Arkansas, dating back to the 1930s.

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The Arkansas Folk and Traditional Arts program of the library sent out a request for information on the topic in early July and by July 21, objections had been received, particularly that it was a part of the folk and traditional arts program.

Leadership responded quickly, the UA’s lobbyist Randy Massanelli told the committee today, and transferred the information-gathering effort to the special collections section of the library. “It fit better into that category,” he said.

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“What is that?” Sen. Kim Hammer of Benton asked. “Are we talking drag queens and that kind of stuff.” Yes, Massanelli replied, they were talking about men dressing up in women’s clothing.

“Why in the heck does the U of A even have an attachment to that,” Hammer asked.

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Massanelli explained that special collections include compilations on all kinds of topics, including Nazism, communism, lynching, missionaries, the military and much more. His favorite, he said, is the history of greased pig contests in Arkansas. He said information is currently being gathered on the mythical Fouke Monster.

“We feel it more than appropriate to document anything in Arkansas history,” Massanelli said. The information “exists in a file and is not taught in class.” But he said it’s there for research. Someone might even want to use it to be fully informed if they were opposed to drag shows.

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So, Hammer said, “the U of A’s position is that it is not going to selectively eliminate anything?”

“That is absolutely correct,” Massanelli said.

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Hammer seemed satisfied. He wanted to be sure, he said, that the university wasn’t picking and choosing what information was gathered or discarded.

Sen. Jason Rapert, a chair of the committee, concluded the discussion by thanking Massanelli. “People are pretty sensitive about some of these things,” he said.

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Here’s the UA’s request for drag show material.

The project seeks to document the experiences of Arkansas’ drag community–from the performers themselves to the many community members who make the drag scene possible. Special Collections aims to preserve these stories and provide an ongoing repository for interviews and materials.

The announcement included this photo:

UA CAPTION: The wig collection of Lady Kakes (Fayetteville, Arkansas). Photograph by Deena Owens, 2019.

 

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In other action, the committee heard from Theresa Beiner, dean of the Bowen School of Law at UALR, and Robert Steinbuch, a professor there, over Steinbuch’s objections to a distinguished professorship named for Bill Clinton, as desired by the late William Bowen, who endowed the chair.

In the end, the committee learned that an FOI request fulfilled this summer led to a document search that revealed a letter from a former Dean to  Bowen that Clinton had said he’d prefer that his name not be attached to the professorship. His name had not been used for many of the years after it was created and Beiner said the name had been used after she discovered the original agreement with Bowen. Now it definitely won’t be used. Much of the discussion seemed to derive from Steinbuch’s view that the law school is packed with “woke” liberals. He, incidentally, applied for the professorship and wasn’t chosen. The case appealed to conservatives on the committee, such as Sen. Bob Ballinger, who said that law schools don’t reflect the developing influence of conservative Federalist Society judges on U.S. courts thanks to Trump appointees. Beiner explained that there’s a diversity of views on the UALR faculty and that Steinbuch isn’t the most conservative among them.  It all brought to mind the old saying about competition in higher education — it is so vicious because stakes are so small. Steinbuch managed to inject religion into the discussion, saying a Jew, which he is, had never been chosen to teach constitutional law at UALR. Beiner said she believed the professor chosen for the position was Jewish. Steinbuch said he wasn’t.

Rapert said the issue never should have “reached this level.” Amen to that. When the legislature starts micromanaging faculty appointments and the names on professorships, we are in an even bigger world of hurt than we already know we are.