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Claiming Spaces: A History of the LGBTQ+ Community at Muhlenberg

Last semester, Roman Craig ’27 and Alexa Cinelli ’27 researched LGBTQ+ history at the College and created a website to showcase their findings.

By: Marie Tohill ’25  Friday, November 15, 2024 02:18 PM

Roman Craig ’27 and Alexa Cinelli ’27 during the Celebration of Student Research, Scholarship and Creative Work in September. Photo by Carter McKinney

In the spring of 2024, Roman Craig ’27 and Alexa Cinelli ’27 embarked on an independent study course looking at Muhlenberg’s LGBTQ+ community and how it has changed over time. This independent study concluded with the publication of Claiming Spaces, part of the Muhlenberg Memories Project. Claiming Spaces travels through decades of Muhlenberg history, citing interviews with LGBTQ+ alumni and articles from The Muhlenberg Weekly as its primary sources. 

Craig (they/he), a political science major with a minor in history, says that the project is particularly important to them as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and a member of SQuAd (Students for Queer Advocacy). 

“It’s interesting to see the history of the community I’m from before I came here. It’s important to recognize where we’ve come from and how far we can still go.”
—Roman Craig ’27

“It’s interesting to see the history of the community I’m from before I came here,” he says. “It’s important to recognize where we’ve come from and how far we can still go.”

The two student researchers learned not only about Muhlenberg history through this project, but also the behind-the-scenes of building a website and conducting effective interviews with alumni, says Cinelli (she/her), a psychology major.

Under the guidance of Digital Cultures Technologist Tony Dalton, Kate Ranieri (an emerita faculty member in media & communication) and former Special Collections & Archives Librarian Susan Falciani Maldonado, the cofounders of the Muhlenberg Memories Project, Craig and Cinelli expanded upon their skills as researchers while also learning how to be media-makers.

“Research is really empowering. Everything is written down and documented, but nobody would know that if you didn’t go and look for it.”
—Alexa Cinelli ’27

Craig and Cinelli researched LGBTQ+ life on Muhlenberg’s campus by looking at student organizations, such as the Pride House, reviewing content published in The Weekly and speaking with 11 alumni. Something that stuck out in their research is that “everyone felt that Muhlenberg was more inclusive than the rest of the world,” says Cinelli. During the AIDS epidemic, for example, “Muhlenberg was talking about things that the White House was not,” says Craig. 

This work helped Cinelli understand the importance of research. “Research is really empowering,” she says. “Everything is written down and documented, but nobody would know that if you didn’t go and look for it … I think the fact that people were writing about [LGBTQ+ history at Muhlenberg] and we got to rewrite it and reshape it to share the story was empowering.” 

In making Claiming Spaces, Cinelli discovered that she “really liked helping others have a voice” and Craig realized that they would like to continue pursuing archival research beyond this project. 

“There’s more to the history of the LGBTQ+ community than just what [students] know about on campus,” he says. “Even though Muhlenberg went through waves of slowly becoming more progressive, it was still much better than what other colleges were probably doing at the time.”