LGBT Concerns Included in University of San Diego Student Demands

usdAs the new year gets underway,  college campuses will soon be in full swing.  Here are stories from three Catholic schools that are working for greater LGBT equality for their students.

USD Students’ Demand LGBTQ Justice

University of San Diego (USD) students have released a list of equality demands for marginalized students–including LGBTQ students–to kick off the spring semester. Uniting under “Concerned Students @ USD” and led by the Black Student Union, student groups and activists at the school are seeking a number of critic al campus reforms.

The 22 demands ask “that the university stand by its professed values now” to critically examine and change those aspects of campus life which are “exclusionary, alienating, and invalidating to its marginalized students.”

Though primarily focused on matters of racial justice, the intersectional approach means Concerned Students @ USD forcefully includes queer and transgender communities in their efforts. Related demands include:

  • Gender-neutral restrooms in every campus building;
  • Greater representation in administration and student leadership of “people of color, queer-identified people and women”;
  • Creation of a new Gender and Queer Studies department with a minimum of 12 full-time faculty;
  • A mandatory orientation program comprehensive of race, gender, and sexual identity;
  • Intentional inclusion of “cultural, LGBT and feminist student organizations” in campus programming;
  • A ban on Yik Yak, an anonymous social media application, where hate speech, including homophobic and transphobic remarks, are quite prominent.

USD President James Harris responded to the students’ demands in the campus newspaper The Vista at last semester’s end, calling upon all students to become involved with a newly begun strategic planning process where matters of justice and equality could be taken up.

University spokesperson Peter Marlow confirmed that Harris had met with involved students to help them participate in the planning process, though he added that “any fringe ideas that may be contrary to our Catholic identity would be vetted by a broad audience and even broader perspectives and priorities.”

DePaul University Considering Preferred Name Policy

Officials at Chicago’s DePaul University, the U.S.’ largest Catholic college, are considering a Student Preferred Name and Gender Policy. This proposed policy would allow students to identify their “preferred name” rather than legal name in university systems, as well as leave their gender “unspecified.” Katy Weseman, who coordinates LGBTQA Student Services, told campus newspaper The DePaulia this change is:

“Very much in line with DePaul’s mission, part of honoring a person’s human dignity is honoring and respecting how they identify and how they refer to themselves. . .this is very much a social justice issue.”

Marquette University Implements Gender-Neutral Restrooms

Students returning to Marquette University in Milwaukee this semester will have access to gender-neutral restrooms on the ground floor of all residence halls, reported campus newspaper Marquette Wire. The restrooms, labeled “All Gender,” are being welcomed by students. Marquette becomes the eighth Jesuit college in the U.S. to offer more transgender-inclusive restrooms.

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What is particularly impressive in all three stories is that it is both students and staff have been working, independently and in collaboration, for LGBT justice. Radical efforts from the grassroots, like Concerned Students @ USD, continue pushing already inclusive schools even further. Institutionalized reforms, like at DePaul and Marquette, ensure that students’ efforts become protected and permanent.

As another semester begins, Catholic higher education in the U.S. continues to lead the broader church in how we can improve LGBT acceptance and inclusion in our communities.

This post is part of our “Campus Chronicles” series on Catholic higher education. You can read more stories by clicking “Campus Chronicles” in the Categories section to the right or by clicking here. For the latest updates on Catholic LGBT issues, subscribe to our blog in the upper right hand corner of this page.

–Bob Shine, New Ways Ministry

3 replies
  1. Friends
    Friends says:

    Just a “curiosity” observation here: Marlboro College in Vermont — a small but very progressive school — has implemented the gender-neutral rest room policy all across the campus. But Marlboro also hosts an internationally-famous summer music festival, which draws distinguished classical musicians from all around the world, for nearly two months of summer residency and public performances. Last summer I noted that the visiting musicians had re-segregated all of the gender-neutral restrooms — thus re-gendering them as either “MEN” or “WOMEN”! This leads me to wonder if the gender-neutral campaign is mainly an American (and especially a young American) phenomenon — which is simply “not on” with elite cultural actors from the rest of the planet. Are there any other direct observations concerning this cultural difference or dissonance? (Personally, I would draw the line if public facilities start removing men’s urinals because they symbolically represent “gendered sexism”. Enough with this overboard “PC ideology”, already!)

    Reply

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  1. […] in a positive direction are evidence that a Gospel way forward is possible. For instance, University of San Diego students intentionally included the needs of transgender and queer students in their demands for reform. One […]

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