Mike Morand is pretty much King of Yale.  As Associate Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs, he’s basically in charge of how we live our lives.  He’s also president of the Elizabethan Club and just won a Dorothy Award from the New Haven Pride Center for being King of the Gays.  He’s served on the New Haven Board of Aldermen and as president of the New Haven Public Library.  Sheesh.  I asked Mike five questions, ranging from serious to silly, to try to get behind the glasses and find the drag queen lurking inside.

1) Starting off serious: You’ve lived in New Haven for I don’t know how many years, and now you’re in charge of Yale’s relationship with the city.  How would you characterize the change in this relationship from then until now?

For most of the 294 years that Yale University has been in New Haven, the relationship was terrific. As was the case with many universities and their hometowns, the 20th century saw an extended period of disengagement and even conflict, but we’ve all returned to the roots of the relationship and restored cooperation.

Mayor DeStefano has often said that the relations of New Haven and Yale are like a marriage without the possibility of a divorce. To the detriment of both town and gown, the spouses spent too many decades in the 20th century yelling at each other, breaking the dishes, and sleeping in separate bedrooms. Now they listen to each other, support each other, and not only are keeping the house and it’s foundation solid but adding on wonderful new additions.

2) You just won a Dorothy award from the New Haven Pride Center. What would you say to Judy Garland if she showed up in your office tomorrow?

I’d try and console her that despite her well-chronicled troubles off-screen, things weren’t so bad since. After all, none of her kids ever did a Mommie Dearest on her and she escaped the fate of being played by Faye Dunaway on the screen. I’d thank her for whatever it was she did to become an icon and source of strength for previous generations of gays and acknowledge our collective debt to her being a catalyst for Stonewall. Then I’d ask her if she’d want to go to NYC to see my friend Jimmy Johnson ’03, whose show “Looking for Liza,” about her daughter, was maybe the best thing I’ve ever seen in any underground space on campus ever.

3) You’re known around campus for expressive socks and flamboyant ties.  What’s the craziest outfit you’ve ever worn out?

Plain grey pants, white button cuff shirt, black socks, and a rep tie. Please, if you ever see me in this again, shoot me or throw some glitter on me or something. OK?

4) Ever done drag?  ARE THERE PICTURES?

Honey, we’re all doing drag all the time. It’s just that most of us are, at best, only partly conscious of it and rarely do it with adequate sass and class.

5) Back to serious:  the YDN just published a piece that reported on the University’s efforts to increase faculty diversity, even in “hard times.”  Do you think that “diversity” includes LGBT professors? Ought it to?

Of course, and I think we can all be proud—and should support the fact—that the University, through the Chief Diversity Officer in Human Resources for staff and through the Provost and his colleagues for faculty—recognize that diversity and inclusion are multi-faceted and broad. The word “university” comes from the Latin root uni + vertere—to turn the many into one. In order to be the best one, Yale needs the many—including the lavender and the pink. That said, I personally and adamantly believe, and know others do, too, that amidst the wonderful goal of inclusion, it is especially imperative to increase the representation of African-American scholars and senior managers in the University. We are best in class in many things—and we should be in that regard, too.