Amanda Munro (The Beacon)
By Amanda Munro, Staff Commentary
University of Portland is home to over 100 clubs, each of which enjoys certain rights, save one. A solitary UP club plays by different rules. The administration has made it very clear to this club's executive board that it is forbidden to represent our university off campus, whether they're marching in a parade or volunteering at a shelter.
Don't speak out. Sweep it under the rug. As far as the administration is concerned, the preferred policy for this club is "Don't ask, don't tell."
University of Portland's Gay Straight Partnership would like to volunteer at an AIDS hospice, attend the Gay Pride Parade or participate in the AIDS walk. But according to the University of Portland administration, this club's mission is to educate students on campus and stay put. It is an unspoken policy, but a powerful one.
GSP founder Oscar Villicaña said this unspoken policy emerged when the club created its constitution in 2007.
"Things were starting to be very clear as to what we would and wouldn't be allowed to do either on or off campus," Villicaña said. "No joining political protests outside of the University or joining with any other organizations."
And no setting off alarms that might cause potential Catholic donors with traditional Catholic values to withhold their annual Catholic donations.
Shhh. Don't tell.
As for the Gay Pride parade?
"[That] would have been out of the question, especially using any names that tied us to the University of Portland," Villicaña said.
In the last five years, little has changed. Although Gay Straight Partnership has shown multiple films, held panels and invited speakers, the administration does not allow them to do meaningful work in the community.
Like the UP mission statement proclaims, we are a "diverse community of scholars dedicated to...service." That is, unless those "diverse scholars" represent a minority sexual orientation.
It seems that GSP's purpose at this school is to prop up the University's flimsy proclamation of "diversity" without doing anything beneficial for the gay community, because that is far too "controversial."
Let's not talk about that.
Is this policy in writing? Of course not. Instead, the club's advisers strongly "discourage" any off-campus activity because they say it doesn't fit GSP's mission, even as they insist members can petition administrators for exceptions. No other UP club is required to submit such formal proposals.
"Most of the time [other clubs] don't need to. Because if they're a service-based organization, they're off to do a service project. If they're an engineering group off to Honduras, they're going to go build something. That fits their mission," GSP adviser Father Jon Donato said. "[GSP's] mission is to serve, ultimately, the campus. So they're not a group that's prone to take their show on the road as it were."
Translation: The University of Portland doesn't want any GSP club members out and about where people can see them (gasp) because that might reflect negatively on the University's traditional Roman Catholic values.
Keep your mouth shut.
"I understand where the University is coming from. We are a Catholic University and they don't want to be represented in a negative way," Andrea Merrill, current GSP vice president said. "At the same time, it's not like we're going to go party and drink all night; we just want to go to things like Gay Fair in the Square as a club, an official club. We want to put a good name, a good face to the University just like everyone else."
But Gay Straight Partnership isn't fighting for that right.
"Our club has developed the understanding that we can't go off campus and it's become a mentality that has followed through our executive board and members who continue on with the club," Kirsten Rivera, current GSP president said. "So we're not going to suggest anything."
The administration has effectively kept the club silent without having to enforce concrete policies that could spark negative attention from human rights activists. Instead, it looks like the club's fault for not speaking up.
Quiet. Just the way we like it around here.
Maybe students would speak up more if the University of Portland included sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy so students weren't terrified that their hard-won group would be cut if they stepped a toe out of line.
"Every club has its limits," Fr. Jon Donato said. "They can have their club status revoked."
No wonder club members are afraid to express grievances with their advisers or speak openly about the issues they face on campus.
It's time to stop playing it safe. It's time to push for equal treatment on this campus, to speak out and speak out loud. Yes, the University of Portland has students who are not being treated fairly, and it needs to stop. Yes, the University of Portland loses grant funding because it refuses to include sexual orientation in the non-discrimination clause. Yes, University of Portland has a Gay Straight Partnership and we are proud of it.
"There's nothing in the mission that I know that says, 'We need to let the world know that University of Portland has a Gay Straight Partnership," Father Jon Donato said.
Maybe it's time there was.
