U. recognizes gay alumni org.

When Liz Cooper graduated from Penn in 1983, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center had not yet been built and the campus attitude toward gay and lesbian students was less than welcoming. But the atmosphere on campus is definitely more welcoming now, according to Cooper, a current Fordham Law School professor and co-chair of PennGALA -- the University's gay and lesbian alumni organization that was officially recognized by the University of Pennsylvania Alumni Society last June. Founded in 1984, PennGALA is currently made up of about 450 members. The LGBT Center manages its membership database. Cooper said recognition by UPAS is a big step for the alumni gay community. "[PennGALA] will help alums to know that Penn is a different place today.... Some of the battles that they were fighting have actually been won," Cooper said. According to LGBT Director Bob Schoenberg, the organization offers alumni a chance to be actively involved in the University as mentors and donors and also allows them a degree of influence over Penn's policies and practices. In terms of the group's goals, Cooper said PennGALA is committed to increasing its membership and organization, providing services to current Penn students and playing a role in the University at large. The organization currently has a steering committee in UPAS, which Cooper said she hopes will ultimately be able to raise money for the University. Cooper said the recognition by UPAS marked a major step forward for the organization as a whole. "If you had told me when I was graduating from Penn that [the gay community] would have recognition, I don't know that I would have believed you," she said. Initially, PennGALA was hesitant to become a member of UPAS, primarily because it was worried about losing the confidentiality of its membership list. Schoenberg said the organization had been functioning well on its own, but he also said that becoming a member of UPAS would open up new opportunities for the group. "The support we have received from UPAS has been terrific," he said, adding that membership could serve as a stepping stone to trusteeship for many alumni. "There are no out gay Trustees at Penn as far as I know," Schoenberg said. Cooper said future plans for the organization include hosting a panel discussion with the Women's Center, aiding undergraduates with mentoring and networking and issuing an alumni directory. Fellow PennGALA co-chair Jeff Wolper, an alumnus and adjunct faculty member, also said being recognized by UPAS would have a positive effect on the group. Among the organization's activities this past semester, according to Wolper, were a dessert reception during B-GLAD -- the Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Awareness Day -- a dinner during Alumni Weekend and an All-Ivy reception in New York. Angela Scott, associate director of Affinity and Interest Groups within UPAS, said the organization "thought it was important to make sure that [PennGALA] had a seat at the table." She noted that UPAS President Elsie Howard made PennGALA's recognition a priority. Scott said there was a definite plan in progress to collaborate in some way with all the affinity groups within UPAS, which include the Black Alumni Society, the Association of Asian Alumni and the Association of Latino Alumni. "Our hope is that we can include alums in our leadership pipeline... that leads one to a track of trusteeship," she said.