William McCoy stands at the center of an expectant room full of lesbian, gay, bisexual and questioning students. Clad in a hip shirt and tie, slightly frazzled but enthusiastic, Georgetown’s newest coordinator of LGBTQ resources introduced himself Tuesday to a community which has been missing leadership despite years of struggle against the University administration.
McCoy hopes to expand the visibility of the LGBTQ community on campus.
“First and foremost to do is to empower the students so that their voices can be heard,” he said. “There are members of the administration who I think are sympathetic to their goals.”
McCoy replaced Charles VanSant, the new Director of Off-campus Student Life, as the LGBTQ coordinator and will also serve as an Assistant Director for Student Programs.
The University administration created the Coordinator of LGBTQ Resources position in 2002 after a group of students petitioned for the creation of an LGBTQ Resource Center.
According to Christopher Trott (SFS ‘03) a former Voice staffer and one of the original proponents of the resource center, the hiring of VanSant as a part-time LGBTQ resource coordinator was the result of a compromise with the administration, which argued it could not approve the creation of a resource center without compromising Georgetown’s Catholic identity.
During the 2002-03 school year, the LGBTQ working group, a group of students and faculty that makes recommendations to the administration on behalf of the LGBTQ community, spent much of the year looking for a candidate to fill the Coordinator position. Last year, VanSant served as both an interim LGBTQ Resources Coordinator and part-time Director of Off-campus Student Life.
The consensus between VanSant and LGBTQ students was that there was not enough time for him to do both.
“Did I do everything I wanted to do? No,” he said. “I wish it was a full time position.”
VanSant said, however, that even filling the position meant progress for Georgetown’s LGBTQ community.
“To have someone identified in the role means a tremendous amount to the students,” he said.
Josh Demby (MSB ‘07), the President of GU Pride, a student-led organization for LGBTQ students, agreed that Van Sant had been overextended last year, but said that he looks forward to McCoy’s tenure.
“With the hiring of Bill, they’ve moved into a more permanent position,” he said.
While previous leaders of GU Pride have often found themselves in conflict with the administration, Demby said that he is optimistic about working with them.
“I’ve found the administration to be a really great ally,” he said.
Tuesday’s meeting, an open house sponsored by GU Pride, was well attended by first-years and upperclassmen alike. Faculty and staff dropped in to greet the new students.
“I was particularly impressed by the amount of first-years who came,” McCoy said.
Veterans of GU Pride and those who were previously involved in protests against the administration, however, emphasized that McCoy’s hiring is an important development, but not the end of a long-lasting struggle to attain a higher profile in the campus community.
Anthony House (CAS ‘02), who was among those who fought to have an LGBTQ Resource Coordinator position created in 2002, said that the responsibility still rests with the students to make their voices heard by the administration.
“It will be an on-going issue. The hiring of a new administrator will not solve all the problems,” he said.
