BY SARA PECK
Contributing Writer
After three university transfers, legal deliberation and some fuchsia graffiti, sociology Prof. Amin Ghaziani has finally settled in at Northwestern.
In 1997, Ghaziani transferred to NU from the University of Michigan in his junior year. Not long after, he clashed with the university over students’ First Amendment rights, diving into a dispute that ended in a lawsuit.
Ghaziani said when he first arrived on campus, he found the political atmosphere “apathetic and frustrating,” so the “lefty” decided to take political action.
Ghaziani and his friends decided to organize a “Queer Kiss In” event at The Rock on April Fools’ Day.
“At noon when classes got out, we would all start making out,” Ghaziani said.
Ghaziani said he and his fellow activists discovered the groundskeepers were selectively removing their flyers from the sidewalks prior to the event. In retaliation, Ghaziani and his friends decided to paint The Rock to advertise their cause.
Armed with bright fuchsia paint, Ghaziani said he and his friends were disappointed to discover a group had already set up camp at The Rock, but he said he was unwilling to accept defeat.
“I painted the entire Rock plaza floor with ‘Queer Power,'” he said.
The NU administration responded by threatening Ghaziani with possible arrest for defacing public property because of the high cost of removing the graffiti, he said. The incident was highly publicized, Ghaziani said, but added that he saw the threats as a breach of his First Amendment rights.
“I threatened to sue the university for violation of First Amendment rights,” he said. “The conversation was a bit loud to say the least.”
After much legal and political deliberation, the university compromised, allowing Ghaziani to revise the university’s policy on student behavior in exchange for not pursuing a lawsuit.
Despite the resolution, Ghaziani transferred back to Michigan. But he said he learned from the experience at NU.
“It forced me to be more articulate about my politics,” Ghaziani said. “It also really got me thinking about infighting within minority groups.”
And the incident didn’t deter Ghaziani from later re-enrolling in NU – as a graduate student.
Ghaziani completed his dissertation in September 2006, and NU then hired him as a professor.
Despite his troubled past with the administration, Ghaziani has been well received by his colleagues.
“All of the professors who have worked with him said that he (was) an excellent student,” said sociology Prof. and department chairwoman Mary Pattillo. “He was a very celebrated teacher as a graduate student, and came to us very higly recommended, so we were very happy to have him as a faculty member.”
Ghaziani teaches Sociological Analysis and Class and Culture, and his students said he incorporates his often-controversial personal stories into class discussion.
“He was telling us a funny story about how he used to go to these parties where they would take a lot of (ecstacy), and he would just bring Tylenol instead,” said Communication sophomore Jackie Grinvalds.
“He used the parties as an example of the type of (sociology) research that still has to be done.”
Grinvalds said Ghaziani keeps his students interested, even during early-morning sessions.
“It’s one class where I don’t mind being there at 9:30 in the morning,” Grinvalds said.
Reach Sara Peck at [email protected].
