Student support for the inclusion of "sexual orientation" in Boston College's (BC) nondiscrimination policy reached a boiling point this past Friday, April 15 with a campus strike and rally.
Friday's strike and rally intended to show the school's administration that a large portion of the faculty and student body support changing the nondiscrimination policy to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people equally.
According to BC senior and event organizer Brenna Casey, "well over 1,000 students and faculty members" were present at the noon-time rally in a show of support for the policy change.
Bearing blue signs reading "End discrimination," faculty and students marched around BC's campus. Students and professors also spoke about the benefits of including "sexual orientation" in the nondiscrimination policy, including the creation of a more welcoming place for first-rate students and faculty members who may otherwise be deterred from coming to BC as a result of the current nondiscrimination policy.
According to BC sophomore and student organizer Nick Salter, "dozens of classes were canceled [on Friday], or at least professors excused students to go attend the rally."
Friday's events were a "demonstration of just how big this movement has become on campus ... it's something a lot of students and faculty are behind [in]," Casey said.
"The most important thing is that it was hugely successful," Salter said. "It exceeded our expectations by far."
Currently, the BC nondiscrimination policy lists "equal opportunity without regard to sexual orientation" in a separate clause from "race, sex, age, national and ethnic origin, religion, disabilities, marital or parental status, veteran status or personal history."
For approximately three years, a group of BC students have been meeting with the BC administration, petitioning and garnering support for a change in the current policy that would include sexual orientation within the main nondiscrimination clause.
But BC President Father William Leahy, the ultimate authority as to whether the policy will reflect the change, has to date remained relatively opposed to the idea.
Student organizers for Friday's event, however, are optimistic that the climate for change is reaching new possibilities.
Salter, who is one of five students who were able to meet with the administration with regard to changing the nondiscrimination policy, said that he and the other four students are looking forward to continuing their negotiations with the administration, with a meeting between Salter and the other students and the administration to be held today.
"We're hoping for a positive outcome ... as early as this week," Salter said.
In a April 16 Boston Globe article, BC spokesperson Jack Dunn said that students have "rightfully pointed out that our policy is not welcoming enough ... and we're meeting with them to try and change that without giving up our rights."
According to Dunn, some people within the BC administration fear that "[including] sexual orientation [in the nondiscrimination policy] could mean that outside authorities, namely the courts, could require BC to approve and fund activities that are in conflict with the [Jesuit] values that sustain us."
For Salter, the highlight of Friday's strike and rally was the inclusion it provided for all students and faculty interested in changing the school's nondiscrimination policy.
"Only five of us can join the administration at the negotiating table," Salter said. "Friday's events provided an opportunity for hundreds of others who care about the issue to participate too."
