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The Rice Thresher
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by Aalok Mehta Thresher Staff A presentation and panel discussion, organized by the Rice Ally program, will address issues of homophobia and heterosexism Sunday in Farnsworth Pavilion in the Student Center. Pride President Uri McMillan, one of the program's organizers, said the event - one of a series of panel discussions organized by the Ally program - aims to open discussion about sexual orientation issues. The Rice Ally program began when a program called Safe Zone, organized by Heather Syrett, the Community Involvement Center director, was incorporated into the Counseling Center. "The main focus is to make Rice more aware of issues of sexuality and sexual orientation and to make Rice more open to these issues," said McMillan, the Student Association external affairs vice president-elect and a Brown College sophomore. The program will begin with a brief presentation on heterosexism and homophobia, two problems that McMillan said can be approached by raising awareness on campus. Homophobia is the fear or hatred of homosexuals, and heterosexism the belief that homosexuality is invalid or inferior to heterosexuality, Hanszen College junior Max Starkenburg, another of the program's organizers, said. "There's a lot of silence about gay and lesbian issues here [at Rice]," Starkenburg said. "I think they're a lot of people who want to help, if they knew how." The presentation will be followed by an hour-long panel discussion. The panelists will be Mathematics Department faculty member Stanley Chang, Hanszen junior Merritt McAllister and Hanszen sophomores Carolyn Shulman and Mustafa Dohadwala. The Rice Ally program grew out of several students' concerns that existing Rice institutions were not adequately addressing issues of sexual orientation. Some members of Pride, an organization that provides support to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual members of the Rice community, expressed frustration with the lack of a stance on same-sex issues by the College Assistance Peer Program. Dr. Michael Winters, a staff adviser to CAPP and a Counseling Center staff psychologist, attended a Pride meeting and also saw a need for additional support. Winters, Syrett and Student Affairs staff member Boyd Beckwith met with faculty members and students to discuss options. "It made sense to do this as part of our outreach effort, addressing issues like this affecting the campus as a whole," Winters said. "Anything that addresses oppression is helpful. "There isn't a blatant hostility to bisexuals, gays and lesbians on campus, but there is a silent lack of acceptance," he said. "Rice is not as affirmative a community as it could be." The name of the program refers to people trained to support students concerned with gay, lesbian and bisexual issues. Such "ally" training will begin at the discussion. Beckwith said he became involved in the Ally program because he was part of a similar program at the University of Arizona. "I felt the Rice community could continue to benefit from learning about these issues," Beckwith, the Student Center director, said. "This program is a way of giving people ... some skills on how to be supportive of someone having difficulty with their sexual orientation." Allies receive a rainbow-colored triangle sticker that they can put on their doors. Students who want to talk about homosexuality will then know that these places are "safe" for them to talk, said Starkenburg. The Sunday session follows other recent discussions of issues like sexual harassment on campus. Last month, students discussed the issue of sexually explicit college cheers, both in a Student Association forum, where Associate General Counsel Carlos Garcia answered questions about Rice's sexual harassment policy, and independently in the colleges. The issue of sexual harassment and college cheers was raised in November, when four students filed an official complaint to Vice President for Student Affairs Zenaido Camacho. The panel discussion will be the first public event that the Rice Ally program has put on, but the program is now a permanent part of the Counseling Center and will host additional events, Winters said. These include having additional discussions and training sessions every semester for students, faculty and staff. The Ally program also plans to meet with CAPP members and Orientation Week coordinators to help the counselors and advisers know how to deal with issues of sexual orientation they might face. The next event will be a panel discussion and meeting 2-5 p.m. Sunday in Farnsworth Pavilion. Registration for this event is due today at 5 p.m.
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