1968 Bucks County Community College protest
In 1968, Ralph Sassi Jr., the president of the college's student government, approved a request from a cultural affairs committee on campus to host a presentation by Leitsch, who was the president of the Mattachine Society chapter in New York City and had received some media attention for challenging that city's ban on bars serving gay patrons.
Rollins, accompanied by security, spoke to the crowd, telling them that outside pressure had led to his decision to cancel the event, as he did not want to damage the college's relationship with the surrounding community.
Despite extensive coverage in local media, the event was largely forgotten until LGBTQ historian Marc Stein discovered a 1968 article in The Philadelphia Inquirer mentioning it.
[3] At that same time, Ralph Sassi Jr., a 20-year-old native of Levittown, Pennsylvania, who was about to graduate from the college with an associate of arts degree,[2] was serving as the president of the student government.
[3][4][5] Leitsch was the president of the New York City chapter of the Mattachine Society, a nationwide gay rights organization,[2] during the homophile movement.
[5] He had recently received some media coverage for directly challenging the city's ban on bars serving alcohol to gay patrons.
[5] Sassi felt that his presentation, "The Problems of the Homosexual in Our Society",[1][5] which would include the speaker advocating for better treatment of gay people by the criminal justice system and law enforcement officers in particular,[6] would be of interest to the students.
[2] Due to the backlash, on May 9, only three hours before the speech was set to commence,[1][4][5] President Rollins announced that the college administration was cancelling the event.
[7] After students learned of the cancellation, some moved quickly through campus, spreading the word to others about their plans to protest the administration's decision.
[1] Sassi, who had never participated in a protest before, publicly spoke to the crowd, calling the president's decision to cancel the speech unfair while urging the protestors to remain civil and peaceful.
"[2] Sassi also mentioned that, while Leitsch's sexuality was the basis for the decision to cancel the speech, student protesters were largely upset by the perception that they lacked the maturity to engage with such culturally controversial topics that would be discussed in the lecture.
[1] As a substitute, Rollins stated that a public discussion covering the same topic would he held later that day, featuring faculty members from the college's philosophy, psychology, and sociology departments.
[1] During the meeting, Sassi also noted that there had been a rumor on campus that some professors were going to fail students who attended the lecture, which the dean claimed was most likely an exaggeration, but not entirely unbelievable.
[1] Hoping to still have Leitsch speak to the student body, organizers initially made plans to invite him to an off-campus speech on May 21.
[1] To help prevent further controversies, the college created a committee, composed of three faculty members, three administrators, and three students,[1] to draft policies regarding future speakers.
[5][9] Concerning the forgotten history of the event, Stein attributes it to the fact that, while it was covered extensively by local media outlets, it did not become a national story.
[5] Additionally, Stein said that the protest was not covered by LGBT publications in part because it had not been conducted by activists within the community, meaning that they "could not take credit for the demonstration".
[1] Further, Stein stated that a great deal of LGBTQ history as it pertains to places of post-secondary education often focus on larger and more prestigious universities, with community colleges typically being overlooked.
[2][6] Titled "Bucks Looks Back: Gay Rights History Made Here",[4] the forum featured both Kuna and Stein, as well as a teleconference call from Sassi.
