Administrators, faculty, students share ideas for improvement

Students, faculty and members of the administration came together Thursday to discuss how the University can meet the needs of the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender community on campus.

Rob Perez, graduate assistant in student development of Multicultural Programs and Services, planned the event and said the idea came from a similar meeting that was organized to discuss issues concerning the University’s Latino population.

Perez said such discussions need to be held more often, and not only by committees formed by the administration.

“I think it’s important that dialogue about how the needs of GLBT individuals on campus are being met happen not only with the committee itself that’s being created, but in the classrooms, in the residence halls, at programs anywhere and everywhere around campus,” Perez said.

He said a discussion of this kind is important, especially with the chancellor’s past comments, and the defacement of the Saluki Rainbow Network’s office door and bulletin board over the summer. He said hate-related incidents needed to be discussed openly.

“It’s time we stopped sweeping them underneath the rug and being hush-hush about them, and actually deal with them – honestly and out in the open,” Perez said.

Participants discussed the issues they think affect the GLBT community, including human resources, campus climate and academics.

In the human resource field, recommendations included adding a transgender category box to the gender section of University application, reaffirming the University’s non-discrimination policy, and whether increasing recruitment of GLBT students and faculty is possible.

Most recommendations were made regarding campus climate issues. Many people suggested creating a GLBT campus resource center.

Perez said the center would help not only students who are open about their sexual orientation, but also those who are not. He pointed out that developing a multicultural center is a part of “Southern at 150.”

“It would be a positive issue for students on campus to talk to someone with experience about issues of sexual orientation,” Perez said.

Leah Reinert, a sophomore studying architecture, said the idea of a center is good because the main outlet for GLBT students on campus, Saluki Rainbow Network, is geared more toward students who are already out.

“You have to be out to be in our group,” Reinert said. “And it’s the people who aren’t out that need the most help.”

Larry Dietz, vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, said even though he is not trying to downplay anyone’s ideas, he is concerned about the cost of creating a center and the spiraling effect it would have on other groups.

Students attending the event pointed out that there are resources on campus for GLBT students, but people do not have the information on them.

Reinert said although some doors throughout campus display the Safe Zone sticker, more are needed. She also said the network is not equipped to deal with the needs of all GLBT students on campus.

The final area of discussion was academics, and suggestions were made to include more GLBT education in the curriculum and more tolerance training for faculty.

“What I see is that gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender faculty leave; they don’t stay,” said Patrick Dilley, assistant professor of higher education.

Manjunath Pendakur, dean of the College of Mass Communication and Media Arts, said he was impressed with the experience and wisdom of the students who attended.

“I thought it was a very open, warm and friendly exchange of not only students’ problems on this campus, but also solutions to those problems,” said Pendakur, the chair of a newly developed University committee on GLBT issues.

Even though Reinert wishes more people attended the event, she said discussion about these issues is very important.

“I think it’s very productive,” Reinert said. “It’s nice to have a place we can voice our concern.”

During discussion, Reinert added that although the University can work at creating a friendlier environment for the GLBT community, the world still does not accept it.

“This is the way the world is,” Reinert said. “It’s gonna take a long time to change.”