Staff Editorial
Pepperdine prides itself on its campus diversity, supporting students from varied ethnic and economic backgrounds. The university, though it is affiliated with the Church of Christ, has welcomed students from varying religious and political backgrounds to campus, presumably to enrich campus life with fresh opinions and ideas.
But in at least one arena, university administration has balked at the idea of diversity. Recently, gay and lesbian students, together with their heterosexual friends and supporters, have tried to create a GLEE club (Gay, Lesbian and Everyone Else) the Pepperdine campus.
Dean of Student Affairs Mark Davis said the decision was made because the club would compromise the university’s Christian mission. This statement supported school policy stating: The university and ICC can support clubs with funding if they consider them to be in “clear support of it’s Christian mission and educational aims,” according to the Student Organizations Handbook.
Because the Seaver College Student Handbook says that the university believes sexual relationships are designed to be between a husband and wife, having a GLEE club on campus would violate the will of God as interpreted by Pepperdine.
But not having a GLEE club on campus would violate the rights of students to express themselves, the right of gay and lesbians students and heterosexual students who join the club to access a portion of the student activities fees they pay each year, and the right of everyone on campus to feel accepted, validated and heard by their peers.
The GLEE club, comprised exclusively of Pepperdine students and longstanding group on campus, has been forced to remain the “Malibu GLEE club,” a semantics game that will hurt the university’s relationship with gay students and will make Pepperdine less attractive to qualified prospective students.
To students considering applying to Pepperdine, diversity and acceptance can be a major factor in their decisions. According to the Princeton Reviews rankings, widely read and respected by high schoolers, Pepperdine ranks 13th in the category “Alternative Lifestyles Not an Alternative.”
The university could miss out on highly qualified students with fantastic character and unique perspective if those students perceive that the university is judgmental toward homosexual students.
Whether administrators recognize it or not, there is a sizeable gay and lesbian population already on campus. Many students are openly gay, and some professors have expressed that they are homosexuals as well.
By denying a request to establish a GLEE club on campus and therefore denying these dear members of our community a safe place to talk about their lives, administrators say they are keeping with the tenants of Christianity. Many Christians would argue that Christ would require just the opposite of those in authority.
The university has chosen to welcome the group SoulForce, a Christian group that champions gay rights on college campus in March. The university chooses to allow the presence of a gay rights group but will make no move to provide the right to assemble as a network of support and friendship to gay students already on campus.
Also notable is that the Malibu GLEE Club is beholden to Pepperdine policy even when they meet off-campus, according to club organizer Jamaal Crowley. He said that because a group of students is gathered together, they must uphold policies about alcohol and other rules, which the club members do.
However, they can receive no benefit from being responsible members of the community and must hold events for students off-campus.
Crowley said the club has turned down an offer from the university to establish a chapter on campus because the offer was dependent on a kind of equal-time policy, that would essentially force club members to present the view that homosexuality is a sin at every club meeting and function.
This is obviously offensive to gay and lesbian students, and to the heterosexual students who choose to support them by joining the club. This would be much like requiring students who belong to the swing dance club to explain why dancing makes them bad people at every meeting.
School officials are using religious affiliation to avoid an uncomfortable subject, but their decision to shove the problem off campus will only create animosity with the students they ought to protect and validate.
03-01-2007