UNC Finally Acting on Gay Issues

With liberalism comes the fundamental ideas of free expression, tolerance and support for the minority.

For the most part, the UNC administration has done well in these categories -- by allowing its students and community members to wage ideological wars in the Pit, maintaining a nondiscrimination policy and throwing its support behind institutions like the Carolina Women's Center and the Black Cultural Center.

But up until about a year ago, there had been one area of glaring oversight -- UNC's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community.

Perhaps this was reflective of greater society, as many people will balk at racial slurs but will let it slide when a friend negatively references something by saying, "That is so gay."

Maybe the general acceptance of slights against the LGBTQ community is what made it easier to look the other way when blatant acts of discrimination and intolerance occurred on UNC's supposed liberal campus.

Among the acts was the discovery of an anonymous letter last year that threatened to detonate six bombs around campus if Chancellor James Moeser did not denounce homosexuality.

These types of incidents, while alarming, did not come as a complete surprise and did not cause an outcry at UNC.

The incidents and the community reactions were definitely not befitting of a liberal campus.

Although the University administration had made some efforts to improve the climate for the LGBTQ community, it was not until this past year that UNC officials have shown a commitment to enacting real change.

Administrators started awakening to the visible presence of LGBTQ student leaders. The administration also started to realize the disparity of progress between UNC and its benchmark universities when it came to LGBTQ issues. Most notable was the existence of an LGBTQ office, to which nine of the 10 peer universities could lay claim.

UNC could not.

In response to student and faculty urging for a change, Provost Robert Shelton created the Provost's Committee on LGBTQ Climate.

The result was a 92-page report released last May that contains a study of UNC's climate toward the LGBTQ community and a slew of feasible recommendations. Perhaps the flagship recommendation -- one that for years LGBTQ student leaders have fought for -- is the establishment of an LGBTQ resource center to provide social and academic support.

Officials have admitted they've been behind in making UNC an LGBTQ-friendly environment, especially in regards to creating a resource center.

In the next couple weeks, however, an incipient version of the resource center is slated to open its doors in Steele Building. Although it might not immediately serve as a safe haven for members of the LGBTQ community, nor as an educational force that will reduce the intolerance on campus, it is a step.

It is a step that sends out the message that the UNC administration is committed to changing the campus climate for the better, a step that is more than just an empty promise.

And it is a step toward UNC reclaiming its liberalism.

Karey Wutkowski can be reached at karey@email.unc.edu.