<p>I attended Smith and had many good friends, gay, bi, and straight. While there are definitely situations where a queer Smithie will have a crush on a straight one, I’ve found that queer students will make an effort to find out whether their crush likes women before asking them out (hey, no one wants to be rejected!) and that saying “no thanks” is always appropriate and respected, whether it’s because you don’t like girls or because you don’t like that particular girl. While there are people at every college with bad social skills or who harass people or actually commit crimes, I certainly don’t think Smith has more sexual harassment than other colleges–in fact, I think it has a lot less (certainly less per capita than the large state school where I did my graduate work!).</p>
<p>In the three+ years since I’ve graduated, some friends who only/mostly dated women in college have dated/married men and some folks who only/mostly dated men in college have dated/married women. Most stuck with the gender they originally preferred (as my best friend says, “if I spent four years at Smith and didn’t want to date any women, I’m definitely straight!”) It’s ok. People are tolerant and just want their friends to be in good relationships, regardless of the gender of the people involved.</p>