SECOND DEGREE: LG-GAPSA

In the mid 1980s, lesbian and gay graduate students at the University decided they wanted a group to represent their needs. "The graduate students at the University were at a different point in their lives [than undergraduates]," said Brian Crane, one of the four co-chairpersons of the Lesbian and Gay Graduate and Professional Student Association. "Graduate students wanted a separate space. [It was] by no means a hostile separation." So in 1986, several lesbian and gay graduate students got together and formed LG-GAPSA. · For over half a decade, LG-GAPSA has served not only as a social, academic, and sometimes political organization, but simply a place where lesbian and gay students of the University's 12 graduate schools can get to know each other. "[LG-GAPSA] allows people to get together and find out, 'There are other people like me,' " first-year Psychology graduate student Peter Marvit said last week. "People who have been involved in LG-GAPSA [represent] a broad cross-section of the University," added American Civilization doctoral student Crane. "LG-GAPSA] is probably the most widespread in terms of where its members come from." And many LG-GAPSA members said that they were drawn to the organization because of the sense of community it provides. "We provide a forum for people to interact with each other at a social and academic level," Jeff Abrahamson, a December 1990 graduate of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said last week. Abrahamson added that while members of groups such as the Black Graduate and Professional Student Assembly "pretty much know each other on sight," lesbian and gay students do not have that luxury. "[LG-GAPSA] provides a way to know who the other gay and lesbian students are," he said. While LG-GAPSA is not directly associated with the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly, it has had a voting seat on GAPSA for almost five years. GAPSA added LG-GAPSA's voting seat because GAPSA members felt that the organization represented a certain contsituency that was not previously well-represented in the assembly, according to GAPSA Chairperson Michael Goldstein. And LG-GAPSA is funded by GAPSA's Graduate Inter-School Activities Council, the graduate counterpart of the undergraduate Student Activities Council. This year, GISAC has given LG-GAPSA $1800 with which to run its activities. "[They] really do more for the students that participate in them, sometimes than the school governments [do]," Elizabeth Hunt, GAPSA's vice chair for GISAC, said last week. The staple events on LG-GAPSA's calendar of activities are the socials that take place on the first Friday of every month in the Penniman Library in Bennett Hall. LG-GAPSA members said as many as 150 students come to these events each month. Many members said they participate in LG-GAPSA primarily because of the social opportunities it provides. "The people are really friendly and nice," said a woman in the Graduate School of Education, who did not want her name used. "[At socials] people go up to strangers and say hello. I haven't really found that the to be the overall response in terms of Penn." "I like the people," added Marvitt. "[They are] from all walks of life." But LG-GAPSA sponsors other activities aside from the monthly socials. In the past, the organization has sponsored several film series, a talent show to raise money for a local gay charity, and many lectures on issues of interest to members of the lesbian and gay community. And while LG-GAPSA members said the group is not always politically active, the association has been at the forefront of the call for the removal of the Reserve Officer Training Corps from campus. Co-Chairperson James Colgate said that the slow rate at which President Sheldon Hackney is going about solving this issue is of particular concern to the lesbian and gay community. "We want [Hackney] to comply with his own anti-discrimination policy," he said. While most members agree that the group is loosely organized, their principle concern is that LG--GAPSA's goals are achieved. "[LG-GAPSA] operates on consensus rather than as a formalized board," Crane said, adding that the organization of the group is "a little on the loose side." The group tries to have two co-chairpersons each year -- a man and a woman -- a treasurer, and a social coordinator. Beyond that, positions are "broken down on a task basis." "We're loosely organized because we're all graduate students," Colgate said. "Undergraduates seem to have more time." And while most members are unsure as to whether or not LG-GAPSA even has a constitution, it is apparent that this, too, is unimportant. One criticism that lesbian and bisexual women have made of the organization is that only a small percentage of those involved in the group are women. Although LG-GAPSA is designed for both men and women, the group is about 90 percent male, according to History graduate student Abby Schrader, one of the founding members of Penn's Eagerly Awaited Radical Ladies. PEARL expanded and decided to split off from LG-GAPSA, a split which Schrader described as "amicable." Schrader said that she used to regularly attend LG-GAPSA's socials but "the problem was that [only] five women would show up." She added that all the women would leave the socials early and go somewhere for dinner and rent a movie because they felt more comfortable on their own. In the future, Colgate said that LG-GAPSA is considering changing their name to include bisexuals because a significant section of the population is bisexual. And while the name LGB-GAPSA has been proposed, many students feel that the organization would be better served if the name was shorter, not longer. But while members have yet to agree on a name -- proposals include Sexual Minority Union of Graduates and Graduate Alliance of Sexual Minorities -- they do agree that a name change is important. "[It's] a wonderful idea to have the name represent all the people in our organization," Graduate School of Fine Arts student Colgate said. "I like the idea of something short, sweet . . . and all-inclusive," Marvitt said.

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