Months after the Student Union Senate passed a resolution urging the University to establish a better system for addressing the issues of its gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and ally (GLBTQA) community, little has been done to turn those demands into action.

The resolution, which called for “the creation and maintenance of a GLBTQA resource center with adequate staff” and “the creation of a University task force to investigate GLBTQA issues,” was passed in January without opposition and was then given to the administration for consideration. James McLeod, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, has since recognized the resolution and called for the formation of the proposed task force as the first step toward putting it into action. Such a task force has not yet been assembled.

Senior Marc Bridge, speaker of the SU Senate, said that action on the resolution is “not moving as fast as [SU] would have liked.”

“After the resolution passed, we put the ball in McLeod’s court,” said Bridge. “But he has a lot of things on his plate.”

Bridge explained that nothing can be done to further implement the resolution without the involvement and guidance of the administration, despite the salience of the issues it addresses and the positive feedback it has received from students.

“I’d love to just go ahead and put the task force together right now, but at an institution like Wash. U. there are bureaucratic processes that can’t be ignored,” said Bridge.

The resolution was designed to address the University’s lack of a full and effective system for dealing with GLBTQA issues. Such issues affect dozens of departments across campus, from admissions to health services, but no umbrella organization exists to coordinate their efforts and tie them to GLBTQA student groups on campus.

The proposed task force and resource center would help identify the broader interests and issues of the University’s GLBTQA community so they could be resolved more quickly, effectively and consistently. It would also allow for continuity in the GLBTQA community after the graduation of leaders of GLBTQA student groups, something that is currently missing without a more comprehensive support system.

Widespread GLBTQA support networks already exist at many top institutions across the country. At Yale University, the Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay and Lesbian Studies brings together GLBTQA communities. It not only seeks to assist its members and resolve GLBTQA issues at Yale, but it also provides scholarships and awards for GLBT students; coordinates lectures, classes and workshops to inform students and the general public about the problems facing gays and lesbians worldwide; and works to foster positive relations between the GLBTQA community and Yale University at large. Similar GLBTQA organizations exist at other institutions such as Columbia, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

According to McLeod, the administration is working hard to see that the issues raised by the resolution are fully addressed. Such issues had been brought to the administration’s attention prior to the resolution in a petition submitted by interested students, and McLeod expressed his pleasure at seeing SU support these students through the passage of the resolution.

“This is a community issue that affects a wide spectrum of individuals and areas, and it is something we all need to be involved in,” said McLeod.

In order to ensure widespread support and collaboration for the initiative, McLeod has been busy discussing plans for the task force with colleagues who work closely with various student groups. He stressed that progress on the task force and resource center has been slow because of the high degree of care and consideration these issues require.

“These changes are very important to us and need continued focus and commitment,” said McLeod. “These are not issues that can just be addressed quickly and moved on from. I wanted to get my colleagues on board, talk to them about [the task force] and do background work before starting to assemble the force so that its efforts can be sustained.”

McLeod believes that the extra effort and time being spent will heighten the success and effectiveness of the created GLBTQA network, and he says that he sees the task force being formed in the near future.

According to sophomore Abram Rose, the SU senator who introduced the resolution, the true test of its success will come next year when students can see if any changes are actually made to the University’s current system of dealing with GLBTQA issues. Both he and Bridge remain optimistic about the future of the resolution and have faith that the administration will fully address the important issues it concerns.

“I hope and expect that [the task force and resource center] will come together very soon,” said Bridge.

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