The Daily Egyptian is published by the students of SIU at Carbondale. Except during vacations and exam weeks, The Daily Egyptian is published Monday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and TWThF during the summer semester."

Gay issues committee to finalize Friday

The administration and members of the faculty expect to finalize the details Friday of a committee forming to examine gay issues on campus.

Provost John Dunn, who Chancellor Walter Wendler charged with creating the committee, said he is optimistic about Friday's meeting.

Dunn met with Paulette Curkin, co-director of the Triangle Coalition, and Bob Cerchio, director of Shryock, a couple of times over the last month to finalize the purpose and structure of the committee.

"We are making progress on the committee appointments and I think that is going well," Dunn said.

Curkin said she expects the committee members' names to be announced after Friday's meeting.

"I'm very pleased," Curkin said. "I feel that lots of people have stepped forward and express their support and concerns."

Following his July comments relating homosexuality to "sinful behavior," the chancellor told the DAILY EGYPTIAN editorial board that he would create a task force to explore gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. While Wendler called it a task force, Dunn refers to it only as a committee.

Dunn asked the Undergraduate Student Government, Graduate and Professional Student Council, Association of Civil Service Employees, Administrative Professionals and Faculty Senate constituency groups to make nominations to the committee.

The Faculty Senate nominated Jan Roddy, an associate professor in the College of Mass Communications and Media Arts, to the committee at its Tuesday meeting.

The Senate also passed a resolution 21-2 by request of a paper ballot to affirm the Board of Trustees' approval of same-sex partner benefits at their August meeting. The paper ballot was requested to ensure that every vote would be confidential. Normally, the Senate passes resolutions by a roll call vote.

Robert Benford, a senator in the College of Liberal Arts, said he wished the Senate would take a stronger stance on the issue, but even this resolution - albeit what he called a "me too" resolution - has been a long time coming.

Benford said there are four "R's" that should be remembered when it comes to this issue: recruitment, retention, respect and right.

"We have no way of knowing how many excellent potential recruitments we could have had here," he said. "What we do know is that at the end of 2003, 196 of the major universities and colleges have same-sex domestic partner benefits."

Jim Allen, also a COLA senator, asked that recognition and resolution be added to the list.

"It's time for us to be a part of an important campus conversation," Allen said. "We have not said anything about this as a body. I think the Chancellor needs to know what the body thinks about this particular measure."

 

 

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