Last Friday, Joe Peace heard a knock on the front door of his off-campus house, often referred to as Blue Garages.
While Peace, a senior business management major, was expecting a new roommate, he said it turned out to be someone from campus security—who had a bone to pick about a recent advertisement Peace had put out to the public.
That advertisement was a phrase written across a bed sheet, hung from the front of his two-story home, reading, “Roommate wanted, must be: a mom, should be: single, accepting apps. now.”
As it turned out, the knock was not a prospective roommate. It was Gary Segrue, the director of safety and security, asking Peace to remove the facetious advertisement.
These graffiti-written sheets are a long-held, family weekend tradition for Bonaventure students residing off campus. Sheets typically don messages relating to current events, drinking and parents — all in a wide spectrum of appropriateness.
Other sheets read: “Bring us the dads bc we’re almost grads…,” “Our dads can beat up your dads,” “Our moms can beat up your moms,” “MILF Lives Matter” and “…come back and get hammered.”
“I did not feel my banner was at all inappropriate,” Peace said. “I actually live alone. My landlord asked me to find a roommate. I did not feel the fact that I asked for it to be a mom was at all sexually inappropriate.”
Peace added that he felt his banner last year was far more inappropriate, yet campus security never commented on the banner.
“I don’t remember exactly, but it was something like, ‘Our beer is cold and our garages are blue, let’s have a good time–moms and daughters come on through.’ That’s not [exactly] what it said but it was something similar.”
Segrue confirmed that he has held his current position since July 2015 and “[has] never commented on banners in the past.”
Friday at 9:15 a.m., Segrue arrived at Blue Garages, Peace said. Peace added that Segrue started by asking if Peace recalled their prior encounter when campus security and a village police officer stopped by Peace’s home to collect emergency contact information, a university standard, earlier on in the semester.
Segrue then explained the reason for his visit, Peace said.
“He started off by saying that Rick Trietley [vice president for student affairs] and himself were going around to all the houses asking them to take down their banners because several of them were inappropriate for the weekend’s activities,” Peace explained.
“He then asked if my sign was a joke and I responded by saying, ‘Yes of course it is, like most of the other signs,’” he said. “He then told me that the school was asking I take the banner down, citing people were sexualizing moms and daughters on their banners.”
Peace added that, in an effort to get outside opinions on the matter, he contacted friends and family members, all from an array of age groups and different genders.
“Not a single person thought it should be taken down,” Peace said. “I texted parents, aunts, uncles my sister and brother-in-law — and talked to a lot of other people on campus.”
In the end, Peace decided to reject Segrue’s request, instead making a second banner.
“I went out and bought another sheet and yellow paint, ‘covered’ mom, put an asterisks next to it and put the note of ‘removed to comply with SBU standard’ next to the original sign. I haven’t heard anything back from the campus since Friday.”
Peace said he’s chalked this encounter up to Bonaventure aiming to maintain good public relations, as Bonagany traffic traditionally passes by his home over family weekend; however, he added that he felt Segrue overstepped his boundaries.
Segrue said his duties aren’t limited to the campus’ borders — although he acknowledges students to have the right to express themselves.
“My responsibility to the St. Bonaventure University campus community does not stop at our campus property border,” Segrue said. “Nothing about the signs were violations of the law and there was never a demand to remove the signs…[and]…members of St. Bonaventure University are expected to treat all members of our community, both on campus and off campus, with respect and dignity.”
mcgurllt14@bonaventure.edu
