BY JAKE ZABSKI
Students in Action claimed that the College wasn’t responding adequately to bias reports tied to homophobia and transphobia done in the form of anonymous Yik Yak posts and public comments made by individuals across campus in the Fall semester.
Jill Goddard, the Director of Communications and Media Relations for the College, said that the exact number of bias reports and how they were managed will be made available to the public soon, as part of the Fall 2021 BERT Summary Report.
Goddard said that since Yik Yak is an anonymous social platform, the College is unable to easily identify or address the issues stemming from the app.
The Office of Student Affairs was made aware of Student In Action’s concerns and has been actively working with SIA since being approached in December by two student leaders, according to Goddard.
“The group discussed concerns and developed concrete actions steps the College could collectively take to ensure a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment for members of the LGBTQ+ community,” Goddard said.
Most students were made aware of the issue of homophobia and transphobia across campus on December 7, 2021, when Students In Action publicly posted a letter to their social media, which was addressed to administration.
In the letter, Students In Action said that over the Fall 2021 semester, several LGBTQ+ students approached the organization about instances of homophobia and transphobia varying from face-to-face comments to social media posts.
Senior Karly O’Keefe is a Students In Action Representative for the Class of 2022, and said that SIA is working with administration to implement new measures to hopefully combat these issues in the future.
One of the measures was making Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training a required first-year program for students to understand, educate, and respect people of all gender identities and sexualities.
Another measure was re-implementing, the defunct at the time, LGBTQ+ Bias Incident Task Force, of which O’Keefe is a member. The LGBTQ+ Bias Incident Task Force was specifically created to respond to these issues, but due to a lack of resources within the Office of Intercultural Affairs and a growing demand from students with little to no staff available, it has been unable to work effectively.
Students In Action met with administration shortly after their letter was addressed on December 13, 2021. In the meeting, both SIA and the administration came to several agreements for the upcoming year to address these issues.
O’Keefe said that some of the agreements include a relaunching of the LGBTQ+ task force in February or March, continued recruitment for an Assistant Director for the Office of Intercultural Affairs position, a campus-wide statement to be released about Yik Yak which has been sent out as of January 18, and a review of Community Standards policy in relation to bias, harassment, and hate crimes to name a few.
O’Keefe said that she is hopeful for the future after meeting with administration, and hopes to see some of the aforementioned actions take place during the spring semester.
President John Denning, C.S.C., addressed the issue through a campus-wide email on December 15, 2021.
In the email, Denning said that he asked Director of Intercultural Affairs Kristine Din, the Associate Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Joanna Ravello, and Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, Lily Krentzman, to examine the campus’ practices, protocols, and trainings to address and combat the issue of homophobia and transphobia across campus.
While Students In Action and administration continue to find ways to combat the issue of homophobia and transphobia across campus, students are encouraged that if they witness any bias incident or hate crime to report it to the College. Reports can be made by calling Campus Police at (508)-565-5555) or issuing a bias incident report which can be done through the Stonehill website or the My Hill app.
Students who are also interested in signing up for Stonehill’s SafeZone Bootcamp which helps to provide resources and tools to support, advocate, and empower Stonehill’s LGBTQ+ community can register at this link: SafeZone Registration
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