Date: Thu, 10 Oct 1996 23:32:23 -0500 (CDT) From: community Subject: MIDDLE TENNESSEE STATE UNIVERSITY recommends policy change! ^ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% For more information about this CIVIL RIGHTS INITIATIVE please visit http://www.mtsu.edu/~mtlambda/uec.html or call (615)780-2293 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---***(=)***--- The University Rules Committee of Middle Tennessee State University has recommended an enhancement of the campus nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation. This university standing committee was given the charge to look into ways of providing a fair policy addressing issues of sexual orientation by MTSU President James Walker in July 1996. This was the third meeting this year on the issue of policy enhancement. The proposal to enhance the campus policy came from the Uniform Equality Committee created in July 1995 by MTSU student Michael Grantham to ensure equal protections for students, faculty, and staff without regard to sexual orientation. The proposal was presented after months of research and coalition building which joined more than 7 campus departments, 3 university programs and 12 student organizations behind a resolution to enhance campus policies. The reccomendation comes five months after the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR), the governing body for higher education in the state, made its own recommendation for a system-wide policy following the publication of the UEC Report on Sexual Orientation and MTSU. The Sexual Orientation Task Force under the Student Affairs Subcouncil of the TBR passed a motion adopting the recommedation in April 1996 after demonstrations of support for such a policy broke out on the campus of the University of Memphis and considerable campus debate at both MTSU and East Tennessee State University. The University Rules Committee recommendation to enhance the campus policy brings the university a step closer to becoming the first campus in the state to recognize equal protections for gays and lesbians. This recommendation has system wide implications. If MTSU adopts the policy, other state schools may do so as well. If the recommendation is passed to the TBR, it may be years before an equitable policy can be fully realized. Efforts at ETSU are currently under way through the creation of the Human Equality Committee. This committee was formed by ETSU student Brandon Hutchison and is part of the "Equality is Civility" campaign begun at MTSU in a candle light vigil on MLK day 1996. It has since aided in mobilizing support of equal rights initiatives at three major TN state universities. MTSU Lambda Association is currently planning the 6th Annual Southeastern Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual College Conference for February 14-16. This conference will aid in bringing southeast gay and lesbian student leaders into a dawning era of empowerment. MTSU continues with its own civil rights initiative which it hopes to share with emerging leaders from around the nation at this conference. ---***(=)***---