Joe Acanfora - Penn State College Days

Penn State College Days

After graduating as valedictorian of his class from Brick Township High School, in Brick, New Jersey, Acanfora entered The Pennsylvania State University in 1968, and majored in secondary education. In his junior year, he joined, and soon thereafter became Treasurer of the Homophiles of Penn State (HOPS), a newly formed campus organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of homosexuals and increasing public understanding of homosexuality. When the University refused to grant official recognition to the organization, four of its members, including Acanfora, instituted legal action to compel such recognition. That action, which ultimately was successful, received considerable local publicity, in the course of which Acanfora acknowledged that he was a homosexual.

At the time that his acknowledgment became public, Acanfora was fulfilling the student teaching assignment that was necessary to obtain his teaching degree from Penn State at Park Forest Junior High School located in State College, Pennsylvania. That school system and Penn State immediately suspended his student teaching status upon learning of his homosexuality and membership in HOPS. Acanfora thereupon instituted legal action seeking reinstatement as a student teacher, and obtained an immediate court injunction granting such reinstatement. He successfully completed the student teaching assignment with a grade of "B+’ and graduated from Penn State in June 1972.

As his senior year was coming to a close Acanfora applied for certification to teach in Pennsylvania. The question was raised by the Penn State dean of the College of Education, Dean VanderMeer, as to whether a homosexual could have the requisite "good moral character" necessary for certification. This issue became a subject of great campus, county, and State-wide controversy, including an interrogation of Acanfora by six Penn State deans comprising the University Teacher Certification Council. When the Council deadlocked on whether or not Acanfora possessed a "good moral character," the matter was referred to the then Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, John C. Pittenger, for decision. With his Pennsylvania status in this undecided posture, Acanfora sought and obtained employment as a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland.