Ban On Travel To Carolina

Keeps 2 Profs From Confabs

By LIBBY CUDMORE • for www.AllOTSEGO.com

ONEONTA – SUNY Oneonta is feeling the weight of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order barring “non-essential” travel to North Carolina in light of Gov. Pat McCroy’s signing of a law that banned LGBT non-discrimination orders and mandating that schools force transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond with the gender on their birth certificate.

“It has affected us,” said Hal Legg, SUNY Oneonta’s Director of Communications.  “Two faculty members had planned to attend conferences in North Carolina.”

Cuomo signed the ban on Monday, March 28, less than a week after McCroy signed the North Carolina law.  Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton and Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin have also signed travel bans to the state.

“In New York, we believe that all people – regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation – deserve the same rights and protections under the law,” Cuomo said. “As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state.”

To SUNY, this means the college may be unable to fund travel requests to North Carolina. Currently, the college is assessing what the ban means for teachers and staff.

“We want to make sure the college is compliant with the Governor’s executive order,” said Legg.  “But at the same time, staff had plans to go to North Carolina, and we’re looking into whether or not those trips would still be permitted.”

Cuomo signed a similar ban in 2015, which barred state employees from traveling to Indiana after Gov. Mike Pence signed a “Religious Freedom” law into effect, which allowed for businesses to claim freedom of religion a defense in legal proceedings.  Critics of the bill said that it would be used to deny services to same-sex couples.

The ban was lifted a week later, after protections for LGBT individuals were added to the law.  Because it was so short lived, Legg said, SUNY Oneonta saw no consequences in travel arrangements.