Washington University received a top rating in the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index for the second year in a row. The Index is intended to set a standard for improving the quality of life for LGBT students at college campuses across the country. It assesses campuses’ LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices and rates schools on a five-star scale.

There are many who arrived at this school on their first days as wide-eyed freshmen, without a single day of formalized education in one vital subject.

I’m glad to see the nation taking action on the issue of LGBT issues and bullying in general. I find it odd, however, that there has been little awareness of another similarity between these men, one that caused their deaths as surely as bullying did: they all had hidden battles with depression, a secret that eventually led to their suicides.

Students gathered Thursday night, October 21, for the Vigil of Awakening in remembrance of the recent suicides of students who had been targeted for being gay and in support of all the LGBTQIA youth who have been bullied. Members of the LGBT community and a large number of allies attended the vigil, as well as several community members.

Tyler Clementi’s death was just one of several suicides by gay students in this past month alone. LGBT rights and acceptance has been, and continues to be, an extremely important issue on campuses. Here at Wash. U. we have a very active student body, and LGBT rights remains one of the most important issues for students on campus.

Saida Bonifield was named the new coordinator for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Student Involvement and Leadership at Washington University this summer.

We believe Wash. U. made an appropriate decision in removing the First 40 Target trip from the freshman orientation schedule. Following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision in January, which opened the door for an expansion of corporate political contributions, Target contributed $150,000 to MN Forward, a conservative interest group.

The Laclede Group ranked dead last this year in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index of companies’ LGBT employment policies. In the recent past, all the gas used on the Washington University campus was provided by the Laclede Group.

I was excited to see an article in the paper on National Coming Out Day, detailing the cooperation of Pride Alliance and new campus “movement” The Right Side of History. There had been, it seemed to me, a significant tension between the two groups, based upon what appeared to be The Right Side’s lack of [...]

Several weeks ago, senior David Dresner approached a military recruitment table at a University career fair, announced that he was gay and asked for an application. He was promptly denied.

The moment was not an extraordinary one.