Minutes 2/20/02

Minutes
LGBT Concerns Committee
President's Boardroom, Tigert Hall
February 20, 2003, 2:00 - 3:30

Members Present: Alex Alonso, Kendal Broad, Kim Emery, Kitty Fallon, Scott Feldman, Carlos Hermandez, Linda Lamme, Mike Malecki, Jeanna Mastrodicaso, Rich Senker, Orit Shechtman, Ken Wald, Amanda Wolfe

Inclusive Non-Discrimination Clause
Kitty shared detailed information from a binder her subcommittee had prepared for the President, on Tier I institutions, virtually all of which have inclusive non-discrimination clauses and shared the wording necessary to make the clause totally inclusive. The terminology is "gender identity and expression and sexual orientation." The president said that he would "see that this is done."

Partner Benefits
Kitty shared information from the binder for the President, on partner benefits. The committee recommended that a committee be formed to include people with expertise on law, benefits for diverse families, and sexual orientation and gender identity and expression issues. The President said he would appoint such a committee and expected that by July 2002 the University would obtain the right to select it's own benefits package and that he would push for partner benefits to be included. The committee recommended two outside experts to the President:
Barbara Bennett Woodhouse and Berta Hermandez-Truyol from the Law School
The following members of our committee volunteered to serve and were recommended to the President:
Amanda Wolfe, Kim Emery, Kitty Fallon, Alex Alonso, and Rich Senker

Campus Climate Survey
Ken asked President Young what had happened to the Campus Climate Survey and expressed concern that the findings with regard to LGBT students might not accurately be presented in the final report due to the fact that the committee meetings were held when the one faculty member who was familiar with that aspect of the survey, was teaching. The President asked several members of our committee to read the report before it is issued. Ken is circulating the report to several members of the committee who volunteered read and respond to it. Apparently there is no mention at all of sexual orientation in the report in spite of the fact that the students reported that LGBT students are recipients of the greatest amount or harassment on campus. Ken's subcommittee will report back to the President on their findings in this matter.

Reporting of Discrimination
At our meeting on September 26, 2001 we talked with Assistant Provost, Dr. Joe Glover about the need to inform faculty and staff about procedures regarding discrimination due to sexual orientation. At that meeting Dr. Glover repeatedly referred to sexual harassment and we repeatedly told him that the issue was not sexual harassment, but cultural discrimination. Dr. Glover said that he would place an article in the "Digest" if we would help him draft that article. The following week Linda sent Dr. Glover the information needed for the article. Each month during the year the Digest article has been on our agenda and John Denny reported that the article was in the general council's office. Finally last week the article came out. It was by John Denny and not Dr. Glover and never mentioned discrimination due to sexual orientation, but again was about harassment. The President said he would look into this matter. There are no clear guidelines in print for faculty or staff experiencing discrimination due to sexual orientation or gender identity to report or address such discrimination.

Special note from Linda. Please check out our committee website and if any information is incorrect on the chart, send me the corrections so that I can forward them to the webmaster. Thank you.

Future Meetings
Wednesday, March 20, 2:00 - 3:30 Jewish Studies Conference Room in Walker Hall
Wednesday, April 10. 2:00 - 3:30 Jewish Studies Conference Room in Walker Hall