Who’d a thunk that Boston College, a Jesuit institution, would hold the line on this? Not me. Good for them. I just wanted to shout out props to them.
You know that because I wrote this, they’re going to turn around tomorrow and open the most faaaaaaaabumous LGBT Support Center and they’ll award Dylan Mulvaney the Christlike Award for All Time.
Boston Globe: Georgetown University opened a resource center for its LGBTQ students a full 15 years ago. Since then, several other Catholic universities and colleges have followed suit, including Marquette University and Santa Clara University. But not so at Boston College, where students say officials have rejected many requests to establish a space where they could seek support, programming, and other services.
Several students said that adding such resources on campus, including a dedicated staff person, would help queer students feel more comfortable and welcomed at the Catholic university. They expressed frustration with the school’s administration, saying it hasn’t made enough progress supporting diverse students.
“It would show that BC is an ally, which they currently do not show,” said Wellington Arkins, a senior from Arkansas who heads a student government council focused on LGBTQ issues.
Jack Dunn, spokesperson for BC, did not confirm that the university had denied student government proposals for an LGBTQ center. He said in an an e-mail that “traditionally, Catholic universities, including Boston College, have supported LGBTQ+ students through support services and education.”
According to Shawna Cooper Whitehead, BC’s vice president for student affairs, the administration plans to add support for queer students through a “more holistic model,” that involves adding resources for students of color and LGBTQ students in the college’s Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center.
“The university has been engaged in active dialogue with students and student groups about increasing support and resources for LGBTQ+ students,” Cooper Whitehead said in an e-mail.
The tension over the resource center reflects efforts by the growing number of out LGBTQ and gender nonconforming students nationwide to navigate their identity and place within a campus culture, even as some states attempt to roll back the human rights of queer individuals. That process can be particularly fraught at traditionally conservative Catholic colleges and universities.
That is the only time you’ll see a Jesuit college described as “traditionally conservative.” So many Jesuit institutions capitulate to the demands of the age, I truly am surprised that Boston College has not done so. I wonder why. Who, behind the scenes, is holding the line on at least that issue?
I hope and pray they continue.
