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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2001)
22 .Ja n u a ry 19 .2 0 0 1 : . : ■ amciHtaei? m : % : by Jonathan Kipp Photos by Marty Davis * group of 35 University of Port land students and their support ers recognized the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday Jan. 15 by staging a 30-minute silent protest and then presenting a list of demands to administrators. Although the students lauded the concepts of equality, acceptance and understanding— so often part of King’s birthday celebration— they vocalized their concern about the university’s “lack of acknowledgment and acceptance of diversity issues on campus.” A dozen university administrators and staff members stood nearby during the event. One professor told the students that their public demonstration about universi ty issues was the first in the history of the institution. The university, ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the top 10 universities in the West, has 2,600 students. Activist Kari Kruse said it was the first time students on campus publicly acknowl edged the national holiday in a meaningful way. The university holds a reading every year in one of the campus buildings to com memorate King’s birthday but does not offi cially recognize the holiday; scheduled classes are held as usual. Friends United to Educate Lives, or FUEL, sponsored the protest. The organization, found ed by Kruse and fellow student Marguax Hunter in 1999, is not recognized by the institution as an official group. The women started FUEL after experienc ing more than a year of harassment in the uni versity’s dorms. They had nowhere to turn for m Toward the end of the demonstration, university administrators come together in solidarity with concerned students as Kari Kruse presents FL'EL’s list of demands * ì ^ Ìi-iiÌS — support during that time because the universi ty does not provide specific services for gay and lesbian students on campus; part of the organization’s mission is to reach out to sexual minority students. Kruse said she didn’t even attempt to get offi cial recognition when starting FUEL because she was so certain the group would be denied. The Catholic university, like many others across the country, doesn’t allow gay-related student organizations on campus. In 1994, a student group that was focused Campus activist Kari Kruse meets the press during the protest Jan. 1 5 on sexual minority issues was denied club sta tus, according to Kruse. The university revised its student handbook in 1995 to reflect its devotion to its values, she said. The revision stated, “The university encourages development and registration of a wide vari ety of student groups but reserves the right to deny recognition to any group whose purpos es are judged to be incompatible with the uni versity’s mission and its Catholic identity.” University personnel told Kruse that even if she left the words “gay and lesbian” out of FUEL’s mission statement, the administration would know the group’s intent. “I just didn’t have the energy” to challenge the policy at the time, she said. “We thought we could get a lot more done without university recognition.” Despite the church’s opposition to homo sexuality, many Catholic universities and col leges in the United States sanction gay and lesbian groups on their campuses. Kruse said although University of Portland often looks to University of Notre Dame as a model Catholic institution, on the topic of gay and lesbian issues Portland lags well behind the notoriously conservative Notre Dame. University of Portland is affiliated with the Congregation of Holy Cross, the Catholic order of priests and brothers also affiliated with University of Notre Dame. University of Notre Dame has taken strides in recent years to look at the needs of its sexual minority students. It now sponsors the Standing Com mittee on Gay and Lesbian Needs, a group staffed by stu dents, professors and the assistant vice president of student affairs. But the universi ty’s gay support group, v Outreach Notre Dame, doesn’t enjoy full recognition. It has lob bied for inclusion and for “sexual orientation” to he added to the university’s nondiscrimination clause. Despite strong recommendations from facul ty and students alike, university officials haven’t budged on these issues. However, Notre Dame has sanctioned the Progressive Student A l liance, which has a mission that includes gay and lesbian rights. Kruse suspects that any organization that included the concerns of gays and lesbians in its mission statement at University of Portland, even if not an exclusively gay and lesbian group, wouldn’t be granted support. She wonders how University of Notre Dame— normally thought to be the pinnacle of Catholic institutions—can recognize gay and lesbian students while Uni versity of Portland refuses. M is s ili accomplished T P rotest organizers didn’t stop with recogniz ing the slain civil rights leader, presenting a list of demands to the university’s administra tors. The students threatened to picket the cam pus every week if the administration didn’t agree to a meeting to discuss their complaints by Jan. 19. Toward the end of the demonstration, Kruse asked the university administrators standing nearby to sit among the protesters to avoid an “us vs. them” atmosphere. The administrators complied.
