ST PETER — ST. PETER — When he left his small Iowa hometown a few years ago, Garret Rorem says he was used to being able to speak his conservative views freely and not have a whole lot of opposition.

Then he came to Gustavus Adolphus College. And he says all that changed.

No, he wasn’t persecuted outright. No one painted black elephants on his dorm-room door or left him anonymous messages telling him to leave ... or else.

But right away freshman year, he said, he was made to feel unwelcome for being a kid with conservative beliefs on a liberal campus. And this year, Rorem says, he was yelled at by an instructor after disagreeing with his criticism of a conservative philosopher.

“Class discussion typically involved 30 students and the professor against me,” Rorem said. “And when a professor yells at me ‘You’re wrong!’ you worry about what kind of grade you’re gonna get.”

He dropped that class. But the feelings of isolation didn’t stop. And he says he’s not alone. In fact, a handful of other students, all members of the College Republicans, recently drafted a document of concerns titled “College Republicans’ Formal Document of Grievances and Objectives.”

It outlines their objections over: how the college’s diversity center was run last semester; school-sponsored fliers they say promote acceptance of gays and lesbians; instructors who openly ridicule conservatism or Republicans; and other complaints.

The document, however, wasn’t meant to be made public. But after Rorem shared it with the College Democrats in hopes of spurring cooperation and healthy debate, the document was leaked to the entire campus community.

And now the issues are, as they say, out of the closet.

In response, college deans Hank Toutain and Mark Braun and Residential Life Director Charlie Strey met with Rorem and fellow College Republican Carla Shutrop.

Rorem says the first meeting went well, and college officials seemed to listen.

But the second meeting: “We felt they were trying to poke holes,” Rorem said. “Unfortunately, we had some arguments on semantics that chewed up a bunch of our time.”

For example, one of their beefs involves a former diversity center director who Rorem says openly led anti-Republican chants and passed out pamphlets at a protest gathering.

Toutain said the person was simply there to keep the peace.

“They said the diversity center director lodged a protest against a student known to be a conservative,” Toutain said. “We told them that it wasn’t true, that I knew who organized the protest, and that the director of the diversity center was present, etc.”

Counters Rorem, “We have College Democrats with whom we’ve spoken who substantiate the claim that he was actively participating in that incident.”

Liberal side

Sid Selvara, president of the college’s student government, said he’s monitored this controversy since its inception. He’s read the document and believes the College Democrats and College Republicans are trying to find common ground on some of the issues Republicans have raised.

On perhaps the most provocative issue — the allegation of instructors stifling the free expression of conservative students — Selvara says he’s unsure whether the complaint is valid.

Here’s Rorem’s take: “I’m not worried about being challenged. If I’m not challenged, it isn’t college. But I don’t need to be berated in classroom or hear glib remarks from teachers. When you’re degrading somebody because of their opinions, that’s irresponsible, and it’s happened to me. Of the 16 classes I’ve taken, it’s probably happened in four or five of them.”

Says Selvara, “I can understand where he’s coming from, but I haven’t necessarily picked up on that ... But if one student or a small group feels that they are left out, we need to talk about it. Even if they’re wrong, we still need to talk about it.”

Toutain, meanwhile, said he’s proud of the faculty on campus and believes they act professionally at all times.

Having said that, however, he’s not suggesting it’s impossible for someone to go over the line.

“I have a great deal of confidence in our faculty and in our staff that they are doing their jobs well and being respectful of people of whatever political pursuit and ethnic background and so forth,” Toutain said. “I’m also a realist, and I think people can mess up and try to be funny and make a comment that is off-putting and has a chilling effect. It certainly is possible. I don’t think these complaints come out of thin air. They’re based on something.”

Toutain says the college takes all student concerns very seriously, and that each time a student lodges a complain, they try to offer several options to resolve the issue.

“If anybody feels they’re being disadvantaged or unwelcome, we have to pay attention,” Toutain said.

When it comes to grade appeals, there’s an official process in place. When it comes to complaints of faculty members, students are encouraged to take their complaints to department chairs. When it comes to offensive pamphlets or vandalism to fliers, there’s a judicial board set up to hear students out.

He mentioned a recent situation when a student came to him during election time with a complaint of another student making politically based derogatory comments toward him.

Toutain said the student was given three options: file a complaint, invite the student for a mediated discussion in Toutain’s office, or simply approach the student and talk about it.

“He chose door No. 3,” Toutain said, and the students resolved it themselves.

Thin skinned?

Rorem brushes aside any claims that he’s simply overly sensitive. He says he has strong positions, but he’s not closed to having his mind changed.

He also says it’s not personal.

“I have liberal friends who chide me, I chide them back,” he said. ”I have friends who are different races, nationalities. I have friends who are gay.”

For now, the situation sits with the College Republicans and College Democrats. Leaders of both will meet soon to discuss the Republicans’ document. It may call for changes to the grade appeal process (it should be noted that there already is an appeal process in place), it may address the diversity center, it may address instructors’ speech in the classroom.

From there, they will bring it to the Student Senate, where Selvara and the rest of the senators will decide what, if any, action to take.

Whatever happens, Rorem says he’s at least glad the issue has been brought up.

“It’s served a purpose,” he said. “I really am displeased with the way it got out. It affected people’s integrity when it was never intended to. But I’m glad it has initiated some change.”