U.S Senator Richard J. Durbin (SFS ‘66, LAW ‘69) sent an inquiry to Georgetown President John J. DeGioia concerning the proposed center for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students. The Illinois Democrat’s letter is in response to the resource center organizers’ campaign to gather support from alumni and friends for their cause.
“I would appreciate an update on this situation,” said Durbin in the Dec. 21 letter, in reference to recommendations made by GU Pride to the administration, including the resource center.?
“Whether it is based on a person’s race, religion, gender, disability, color, national origin or sexual orientation, I am opposed to discrimination. I know you share my position on discrimination, and I trust you will understand the importance of looking into this matter,” Durbin said.
Durbin also wrote a letter to Joe McFadden (CAS ‘02), GU Pride co-president and Voice staff member. The letter expressed his support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and the hate crimes bill.
McFadden said that he hopes this letter will be the first of many from influentional Georgetown alumni. The group began contacting alumni after its Dec. 11 meeting with Vice President of Student Affairs Juan Gonzalez, Director of Student Programs Mary Kay Schneider and Associate Roman Catholic Chaplain Barbara Humphrey McCrabb.
Resource center organizers said that they began to contact alumni when they felt that certain University administrators were showing increasing signs of reluctance to approve the proposals. According to McFadden, Gonzalez referred to external forces as a reason for his hesitance over the center. Previously, Gonzalez had claimed that Catholic teachings prevented such a center, McFadden said.
“These external forces are conservative alumni withdrawing funding and the church hierarchy,” McFadden said.
Resource center organizers are attempting to gather outside support from a list of alumni who may take some kind of action. McFadden said that he contacted Durbin in hopes of a positive response.
“It was a test letter. We were trying to find out, ‘Do the alumni care?’” McFadden said.
The resource center organizers said that they were concerned that their ongoing meetings with administrators were not making significant progress.
“They will listen for hours and we rarely get anything substantial back. It’s very frustrating,” he said.
Organizers claim that a resource center will reduce the feelings of isolation that confront many GLBT students.
“Eating disorders, suicide, depression, sexually transmitted infections, rape, isolation, substance abuse, poor academic performance, prostitution and harassment … Though not all GLBT students face all of these problems, all GLBT students we have talked to experienced at least one?and most have experienced more than one,” said the organizers in the initial proposal.
“We feel a GLBT resource center is the best way to address many of these issues in a comprehensive way,” the proposal states.
McFadden also said that many GLBT students face the problems of isolation and lack of support from the University. McFadden addeds that the University is aware of this problem.
“The administration recognizes the invisibility, but are keeping [the resource center proposal] invisible,” McFadden said.
Resource center organizers have had no response from the administration concerning Durbin’s letter. Members said that they are optimistic about receiving encouragement from certain administrators. “The number of supportive administrators isn’t insignificant,” McFadden said.
Julie Green Bataille, assistant vice president of communications, said that she could find no record of Durbin’s letter in the President’s office.
“After looking into this, I’ve found out that the President’s office has not received any letter from Senator Durbin on this or any other issue. Therefore, there has been no correspondence between them,” Bataille said.
Organizers said that Gonzalez has declined to meet with them again until February.
