Baylor LGBTQ students get boost
Baylor University’s Faculty Senate passed a resolution Tuesday that supports chartering an LGBTQ student group that has long sought official recognition on campus.
A majority of the faculty group voted to allow Gamma Alpha Upsilon, which spells out “GAY” in Greek letters, to be recognized as an official student group, said Faculty Senate chair Matthew Cordon, a law professor who also serves as a director of Baylor’s Legal Writing Center. Twenty-six were in favor, nine opposed and four abstained from the vote.
Such a designation would grant the group, which was founded in 2011, the privileges of other official student organizations, including opportunities to advertise their programs on campus, invite guest speakers, reserve university spaces for meetings, and receive funding through the student government.
“Those who opposed what we were doing were still able to voice their concerns, which were based on their sincere and religious beliefs,” he said. Faculty ultimately decided in a “fairly simple resolution” that was symbolic of what the Senate wanted to support.
Cordon said the closed meeting Tuesday evening, at which the president of Gamma and two student leaders were invited to speak, was a respectful discussion among colleagues. The question was not whether faculty wanted to support students, which Cordon said every member was in favor of. The ques
tion was whether to support the organization.
Sophomore and Student Senator Veronica Penales, who presented and answered questions for faculty at the closed meeting, said she cried when she received confirmation about the resolution.
“I was pleasantly surprised that this resolution,” Penales said.
“Gamma never asked anyone to change their religious agenda. I would say we don’t even have an agenda. We’re just trying to support and create a safe space for our LGBTQIA community and our allies.”
Baylor senior Brittany LaVergne, who is social media chair and PR officer for Gamma, said many students have been ecstatic about the faculty’s support and have been flooding Gamma’s social media accounts with positive messages.
“It was exactly what I hoped for and prayed for,” LaVergne said of the resolution. She added that the faculty vote made her feel more welcome on campus than she had before.
“It made me realize there are more faculty and staff on our side than I had recently believed,” LaVergne said.
A Baylor spokesperson said the university administration appreciates the work of the Faculty Senate “and the role it plays in representing the voices of the academic community,” though the resolution is “non-binding,” meaning it does not set policy.
“But as with other resolutions, it will be taken into consideration as the university continues discussions to provide a caring, supportive community,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Though neither the Student nor Faculty Senates’ resolutions change the university’s policy concerning LGBTQ students or Gamma, it is considered a symbolic move in a decadelong fight by students and alumni for recognition.
LaVergne said Gamma members were aware that faculty don’t have the final decision but emphasized that faculty have been instrumental in progressive changes in the past, including integration in the 1960s.
“Faculty holds a lot of weight. Their vote on this puts us in a better position to go to the administration to say we have the support to be able to be chartered and continue this fight to be recognized,” she said.
In May 2019, more than 3,000 Baylor University alumni, students, staff and former faculty signed a petition addressed to university officials supporting the group’s fight to be recognized.
The university responded in the following months, with President Linda Livingstone noting that “Baylor is committed to providing a loving and caring community for all students — including our LGBTQ students” and pointing to its statement on human sexuality and sexual conduct policy. The statement notes that “the university affirms the biblical understanding of sexuality as a gift from God.”
Its sexual conduct policy also states that it is “expected that Baylor students will not participate in advocacy groups which promote understandings of sexuality that are contrary to biblical teaching,” which include “heterosexual sex outside of marriage and homosexual behavior.”