A report compiled by the Syracuse University Senate Committee on LGBT Concerns, made public this week, underscores issues affecting LGBTQ campus life and calls for increased resources to be allocated to certain pockets of the LGBTQ campus community.

A presentation of that report, as well as a vote on a motion to amend the official charge of the committee, was originally scheduled to be held during Wednesday’s Senate meeting in Maxwell Auditorium. Both the presentation and a vote on the motion were tabled until next month’s meeting, but the committee report and the text of the motion were shared with senators prior to Wednesday’s meeting.

The motion calls for the committee to be renamed the “Committee for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Asexual Justice and Advocacy” and for the section of the Senate bylaws that detail the committee’s function to be updated so the language more accurately reflects the committee’s role.

The report outlines the committee’s work during the 2016-17 academic year and provides details about SU’s LGBTQ campus life. The committee report revealed, among other things, that Department of Public Safety officers are not required to participate in LGBT bias training and that the LGBT Resource Center was not invited to participate in accepted students and student recruitment programming events last year.

The report notes that SU was rated 3.5 out of 5 stars by the Campus Pride Index report, an indication of how LGBTQ-friendly a campus is, in a 2016 assessment. The CPI report found that housing and residence life, as well as recruitment and retention, are areas of concern on SU’s campus as it relates to LGBTQ issues.

During the 2017-18 academic year, the committee plans to request meetings with officials from alumni services, SU Athletics, SU Housing and the LGBT Studies program to discuss LGBT issues, according to the report. The committee also plans to address issues it identified through its work during the 2016-17 academic year, when the committee met with officials from the LGBT Resource Center, the Department of Public Safety and the Office of Human Resources.

The committee identified the LGBT Resource Center’s visibility on campus as a potential area of concern, noting the center was not informed of or invited to be represented at SU student recruitment or accepted student events last year.

“I think that that is merely an oversight, but it’s exactly the kind of oversight that we can work, as an advocacy arm, to guard against,” said Emily Vey Duke, an associate professor in the transmedia department and the chair of the committee, in a post-meeting interview.

The report indicates the center could benefit from increased staffing. The report notes only professional staff can conduct the center’s “Safer People, Safer Spaces” training, a three-hour workshop on LGBTQ issues. The center has four paid staff members, and the report found that “staffing presents a challenge” as requests for the “Safer People, Safer Spaces” trainings expand.

The committee report recommended DPS require officers to partake in the “Safer People, Safer Spaces” training and that DPS designate an officer to work specifically with the campus LGBTQ community.

According to the report, all DPS officers participated in the implicit bias training held on campus last November, but that training didn’t specifically address LGBTQ issues. Some DPS officers, such as Chief Bobby Maldonado, have participated in the “Safer People, Safer Spaces” training, but it isn’t currently a requirement for officers, per the report.

Duke added, though, that the committee has found “all of the units we’ve worked with, including DPS, have been pretty fantastic and eager to work with us and to integrate the work of the committee into what they’re doing.”

When the report is presented to the Senate next month, a vote will also be held on the motion to update the section of the Senate bylaws that details the function of the LGBT Concerns Committee.

Under the proposed updated bylaws, the committee would be defined as one that focuses on improving the campus climate for those of historically marginalized genders and sexualities; advocating for changes in university policy and practices related to LGBTQ issues; “facilitating public dialogue” on intersectional queer and transgender issues; and working closely with the LGBT Resource Center and the LGBT Studies program.

That definition gives more weight to the committee than the current bylaws, which define the committee as one that works to improve the campus climate for LGBT community members, educate campus leaders about LGBTQ issues and facilitate public dialogue on LGBTQ issues.

“The role of the committee will remain the same,” Duke said. “But we wanted to update the language of the charge and the name of the committee.”

Published on October 19, 2017 at 12:14 am

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu