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Faculty for LGTBQ

Letter to the Editor

Published: Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Updated: Wednesday, September 12, 2012 12:09

Editor’s Note: To view the complete list of 113 signatures, please visit The
Observer’s website at ndsmcobserver.com

We are writing to express our support for the 4-to-5 movement and for the members of the LGBTQ community at the University of Notre Dame. We value the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning members of our community exactly as we do all those who are part of the Notre Dame family. As faculty and staff, we affirm that our offices and classrooms will be safe and open spaces, where anti-GLBTQ discrimination, harassment or violence will not be tolerated.

We thank the graduating students and others who have worked so hard to bring LGBTQ concerns to the forefront. Their efforts have made and will continue to make a difference. We also applaud the recent efforts of Notre Dame to create a more welcoming and safe environment for all. We encourage the University to continue its progress by joining with the City of South Bend, our sister college St. Mary’s and other Catholic colleges and institutions across the country to make the protection, recognition, and equal treatment of the GLBTQ members of our family an official part of University policy. We look forward to the day when the Spirit of Inclusion describes not just an aspiration of some, but the everyday experience of all of us who are Notre Dame.


Richard Williams
faculty
Department of Sociology
May 1

Thomas F. Anderson, Romance Languages and Literatures
Francisco Aragón, Institute for Latino Studies
Julie Arnott, Hesburgh Libraries
Charles Barber, Art, Art History & Design
Zygmunt Baranski, Romance Languages and Literatures
Katrina Barron, Mathematics
Joseph Bauer, Law School
Christine Becker, Film, Television, & Theatre
Mary Beckman, Center for Social Concerns
Tracy Bergstrom, Hesburgh Libraries
Patricia Blanchette, Philosophy
Susan Blum, Anthropology
Tatiana Botero, Romance Languages and Literatures
Kevin Burke, IEI
Joseph Buttigieg, English
Doug Cassel, Law School
Oscar Celador-Angón, Institute for Latino Studies
Annie G. Coleman, American Studies
Robert Coleman, Art, Art History and Design
Jessica L. Collett, Sociology
Brian S Collier, IEI
Jim Collins, Film, Television, and Theatre
Philippe Collon, Physics
Suzanne M. Coshow, Management
Fred Dallmayr, Political Science and Philosophy
Mary Rose D'Angelo, Theology
Michael Detlefsen, Philosophy
Jean A. Dibble, Art, Art History & Design
Bernard Doering, Romance Languages & Literature
E. Jane Doering, Teachers as Scholars Program @ NDU
Margaret Doody, English
Erika Doss, American Studies
Kevin Dreyer, Film, Television, and Theatre
Liz Dube, Hesburgh Libraries
John Duffy, English
Kathleen Eberhard, Psychology
Stephen M Fallon, PLS and English
Barbara J. Fick, Law School
Deb Fox, Law Library
Douglas A. Franson, Institute for Latino Studies
Stephen Fredman, English
Agustín Fuentes, Anthropology
Benedict Giamo, American Studies
Jill Godmilow, Emerita, Film, Television & Theatre
Robert Goulding, PLS & History and Philosophy of Science
Daniel A. Graff, History
Karen Graubart, History
Stuart Greene, English
Tracy Grimm, Institute for Latino Studies
Eugene Halton, Sociology
Stephen Hayes, Hesburgh Libraries
Richard Herbst, Law School
Peter Holland, Film, Television & Theatre
Raúl Jara, Institute for Latino Studies
Carlos A Jauregui, Romance Languages and Literatures
Lionel M. Jensen, East Asian Languages and Culture
Carlos Jerez-Farran, Romance Languages
Felicia Johnson O'Brien, Center for Social Concerns
Asher Kaufman, History and Peace Studies
Janet Kourany, Philosophy
Thomas Kselman, History
Greg Kucich, English
Stephen Lancaster, Music
Pat Lawton, Hesburgh Libraries
Anne Leone, Romance Languages
Omar Lizardo, Sociology
Neil Lobo, Biology
Cecilia Lucero, Class of 1984
Joanne Mack, Anthropology and the Snite Museum of Art
Julia Marvin, Program of Liberal Studies
James J. McKenna, Anthropology
Maria McKenna, Africana Studies
Mark P. McKenna, Law School
Sarah McKibben, Irish Language and Literature
Rory McVeigh, Sociology
Margaret Meserve, History
Christian Moevs, Romance languages
Marisel Moreno, Romance Languages and Literatures
Sean O’Brien, Law School
Sean T. O’Brien, Irish Studies
Mary Ellen O’Connell, Law and Kroc Institute
William O’Rourke, English
Jennifer Parker, Architecture Library
Jessica Payne, Psychology
Catherine Perry, Romance Languages and Literatures
Dianne Pinderhughes, Africana Studies & Political Science
Ann Marie R. Power, Sociology
Ava Preacher, Office for Undergraduate Studies in Arts and Letters
Clark Power, Program of Liberal Studies
Gretchen Reydams-Schils, Program of Liberal Studies
Robin Rhodes, Art, Art History & Design
Charles Rosenberg, Art, Art History and Design
Alberta Ross, Radiation Laboratory Emerita
David F. Ruccio, Economics
Valerie Sayers, English
Catherine Schlegel, Classics
Susan Sharpe, Law School and Center for Social Concerns
Amy Shirk, Law Library
Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Philosophy and Biological Sciences
Anne Simons, Psychology
John Sitter, English
Cheri Smith, Hesburgh Libraries
James Sterba, Philosophy
Marsha Stevenson, Hesburgh Libraries
Julia Adeney Thomas, History
Maria Tomasula, Art, Art History & Design
Steve Tomasula, English
Julianne C. Turner, Psychology
Anre Venter- Psychology
Christine Venter, Law School
Laura Walls, English
Robert Walls, American Studies & Anthropology
Henry Weinfield, Program of Liberal Studies
John P. Welle, Romance Languages and Literatures
Matthew Wilkens, English
Richard Williams, Sociology
Michelle Wirth, Psychology
Pamela Robertson Wojcik, Film, Television & Theatre
Marty Wolfson, Economics
Joseph Rosenberg, Program of Liberal Studies

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4 comments

Anonymous
Tue May 15 2012 20:11
Thank you for writing this, faculty. Many alumni (including myself) agree with you and are embarrassed by the University's recent actions.
Heather
Thu May 3 2012 14:50
Socratease...I think the last line of your second paragraph is exactly the point.
Those who signed these letters of solidarity are not necessarily liberals. I was raised in a very Conservative household, and I still strongly believe in the mission of these letters. Many of my friends who are both Conservative and staunch Catholics signed the student letter. Do you understand why? Because neither of these letters condones or says anything about supporting homosexual acts or relationships. It is completely irrelevant. These friends of mine believe, as I assume you do, that homosexual acts are sinful. They do not support the act - they support the person. Because while they consider the acts a sin, the person is more than those acts. A person is more than just their sins. A person is more than their sexual orientation. We can support the person without supporting the "sin." Because if we choose to withhold support and community from all those who sin, then no one - not me and not you - can expect support from anyone else. I urge you to think about that before you begin to judge.
People first - "sinners" second. These letters are addressed to the people. Whom we support. We support them as members of our community. We support them and their right to live here and be safe here, just as any other student would be. Do we support their choice to engage in homosexual relationships or acts? Some who signed the letter, as I did, do. I believe that is their choice and I will leave all judgement to God. That is not my place. Some who signed the letter do not support those choices. But they do support their classmates/students. Thye may find homosexuality sinful, but they do not hate gay people. So they signed. They signed to stand against hate, which you seem to find so appalling. That is the point of these letters -- nothing more.
Anonymous
Wed May 2 2012 11:33
Why are you throwing around the word liberal. I'm a proud conservative and yet I completely support the open acceptance of LGBTQ students as well as the NDAlliance Club. I'm also a Catholic. Go figure. Conservative, Catholic, LGBTQ Ally. The three do coexist quite well...
Socratease
Wed May 2 2012 01:15
The Progressive Faculty Alliance strikes again! Yes, we must ensure that everyone on campus is ideologically pure! What's the over-under on how quickly these proponents of "free-thought" and "academic freedom" would attempt to squelch out of hand any principled disagreement with which they come into contact?

But seriously, the problem I have with this movement and the Ally movement is that they refuse to acknowledge the lack of specificity with which they publicly address these issues. We keep hearing about LGBTQ rights and standing against hate. Perhaps they could recognize the fact that some people actually do think that homosexual, romantic relationships are immoral or sinful, but also don't hate gay people.

They also recognize the situation that the University is in with regard to trying to please both Catholics and liberals like the signatories of this letter and others. They're just playing a Machiavellian game, which is currently pissing off both sides: they don't really have a principled stance against granting these demands to LGBTQ groups, they just know that doing so would cause a lot of fall-out with the Church and, subsequently, Catholic donors. Really, it's all about the money, as anyone who's been around the block here knows. So they're willing to try to appease the LGBTQ crowd because they want to be like their "aspirational peers," but they don't want to go completely off the Catholic reserve. That's just how it is folks.





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