Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 22:18:15 -0800
From: John.M.Blandford.2@nd.edu (Blandford)

March 7, 1995

CONTACT:   John Blandford
           219.232.6332


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Notre Dame Faculty Strongly Rebukes 
Newly Articulated Gay Policy

NOTRE DAME, IN -- The Faculty Senate of the University of Notre Dame
tonight called for the formal recognition of an unrecognized gay student
group, rejecting the arguments of Vice President for Student Affairs
Patricia O'Hara who defended the administration's position before the body.
 The senate adopted by a wide margin a resolution that "calls upon the
officers of the university immediately to recognize GLND/SMC."  The
resolution passed with 30 members casting votes in favor, 3 opposed, and
four abstaining.  
        The senate action further isolates the Notre Dame administration in
its decade-long refusal to recognize a student gay group and in its recent
move to bar the group's meetings on campus.  The student group, Gays and
Lesbians of Notre Dame and St. Mary's College (GLND/SMC), was told in
January that it would be barred from further meetings in the University
Counseling Center, a space it had used with knowledge of administrators for
nearly nine years. 
        Since word of the university's action became public, the Notre Dame
campus has been the site of three demonstrations organized by other campus
organizations.  Last Thursday, some 400 gathered outside the student center
to hear faculty, student leaders and GLND/SMC officers speak against the
university's position.
        The senate's vote comes just a day after the Office of Student
Affairs purchased space in the campus paper to fully articulate its
position.  In the two-page ad, O'Hara re-asserted the administration's
position that recognizing any gay group would be inconsistent with the
university's mission.  Significantly, however, O'Hara acknowledged that
administration officials had "acted too slowly and presumed too much about
the adequacy of our efforts in prior years."  
        The document announced plans to form a committee to study how Notre
Dame might improve its efforts to address the needs of gay and lesbian
students, but the new committee would be precluded from studying
"recognition of GLND/SMC or another student group."  The committee was to
have offered recommendations no later than December 6, 1995.  At tonight's
meeting many senate members expressed fears that the proposed committee
would be a means for the administration to bury the issue.   
        The publication of the document by the Office of Student Affairs
was prompted by a resolution  passed two weeks ago by the Campus Life
Council that called for the recognition of the gay group.  University
regulations require that the Student Affairs respond publicly to any Campus
Life Council resolution passed by a 2/3 majority.  If there is no response,
the resolution becomes official policy.  The Council, comprised of
residence hall rectors, faculty, administration officials and students, is
intended to be the body that formally advises Student Affairs on matters
affecting student life.
        The Faculty Senate's action means that every representative body on
campus has opposed the Notre Dame administration and called for the group's
recognition.  In February resolutions were adopted by the undergraduate
Student Senate, Graduate Student Council, Hall Presidents Council, Graduate
Theological Union, and Campus Life Council.  Commented GLND/SMC Co-Chair
John Blandford, "The Notre Dame administration is fast losing legitimacy
for its claims to speak with authority on this and other issues affecting
students.  It cannot continue to defy the will of the university community
and expect to be respected.  At the same time, we are overwhelmed and
gratified by the level of support that has been shown the group by Notre
Dame's students, faculty and staff."          

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