Thanks to the efforts of the gay/straight alliance at Our Lady of the Lake University, the school’s student handbook has been amended to include sexual orientation and gender expression or identity in its non-discrimination policy.
On January 16, Jack Hank, OLLU’s vice president for Student Life, officially announced that the school’s Student Life Council had approved the changes to the handbook.
The process of getting the handbook amended began in February of 2012 when Amanda Beschonet, then president of the Alliance, OLLU’s gay/straight student organization, started a petition on Change.org.
“This is supposed to be an affirming and safe place,” Beschonet said in an interview with the Lake Front, OLLU’s student newspaper. “We just want to make sure everything is on paper.”
The online petition was only a start. “During that time we also held numerous signup opportunities on campus to get real life signatures. We were able to get 408 signatures from students, faculty, and staff –and 247 signatures from the online form. For a total of 655 signatures,” Beschonet told QSanAntonio.
Along with the petition signatures, the Alliance also asked for letters of support from within the university’s community including students, faculty and staff.
“On April 17, 2012 we went before the Student Voice Assembly (where all recognized student organizations vote on issues) and our resolution to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression was voted on unanimously,” says Beschonet.
Soon after members of the Alliance and the Rainbow Coalition, a graduate psychology group, along with Dr. Oswald John Nira, the Alliance’s faculty advisor, met with Hank and presented him with all of the petition signatures, the letters of support and the text of the Student Voice assembly. The group also included a list of all colleges across the US that have gender identity policies.
“We all spoke openly about what it would mean for the students on campus to be protected, and how it could boost enrollment since many LGBT students look at these policies,” says Beschonet.
Beschonet says that she, along with representatives of Equality Texas, GetEqual Texas, the Rainbow Coalition and the Alliance met with Hank over the summer to see how the process was going and to work out the language of any proposed changes.
“During the Fall semester Mr. Hank worked on revising the statement, speaking with the university attorney, and in December he set it before the Student Life Council,” says Beschonet.
Alliance members got the news that the changes had been approved on January 16.
Beschonet was quick to give credit to everyone who helped make the handbook changes a reality. “Key members of the Alliance that helped make this happen include Alyssa Entzi, Salina Rocha, Jessica Soto, Kelly Braganza, Drew Leicht, Lisa Robles, and Michael Torres from Palo Alto College.”
The Alliance was established at Our Lady of the Lake University in 2007 and was one of the first gay/straight alliances at a Catholic college in San Antonio.
