The College wants by June 1995 to create a new administrative position to address issues related to Dartmouth's gay, lesbian and bisexual community.
Although the specifics have not yet been worked out, the position will become part of the Dean of the College Office.
"The position is currently conceived as a halftime position to support gay, lesbian and bisexual students," Dean of the College Lee Pelton said.
The new position is the brainchild of the Coalition for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns. Coalition Co-convener and Religion Professor Susan Ackerman said the administrator should fulfill two purposes.
First, the person should be a voice for gay, lesbian and bisexual students' concerns, Ackerman said.
Second, the administrator should act as a mentor and resource for the gay, lesbian and bisexual students. "When they need a place to go or talk, there's someone there," Ackerman said.
Ackerman said the administrator's role would be similar to that of the Director of the Women's Resource Center.
Pelton said he and the Coalition are currently discussing the details of the new position such as salary, campus location and job title.
"It's not like we're slugging it out, we're negotiating through the specifics without enmity," Ackerman said.
Ackerman said the administrator's title may be along the lines of an assistant dean or a director of gay and lesbian affairs.
Pelton said the first priority was to define the nature of the position and that financing it would be considered later.
"We haven't yet identified any funding for the position," Dean Pelton said.
The Coalition will present Pelton with a specific plan by the end of the term and Ackerman said she hopes to have an administrator in place by the end of the academic year.
"At this point," Pelton said, "I'm just waiting to hear something from the Coalition."
Ackerman said the position's creation has been one of the Coalition's goals since the group's creation in 1992.
But she said it was not until last April, when the Trustees voted to continue the College's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program over objections that the program discriminated against homosexuals, that the issue received serious attention from the Dean's office.
Prior to the ROTC decision, "we were always met sympathetically but in a noncommittal fashion, " Ackerman said. "They said the budget was the main problem."
"The ROTC decision made it quite apparent that the students faced an incredible amount of discrimination, mainly from the Trustees," Ackerman said.
Ackerman said she feels that there is now a sense of commitment on the part of the College.
"I think it's significant that the administration is finally making a good faith effort to address many of the gay community's concerns," said Earl Plante, co-chair of Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Organization.
Plant said he felt the new position would help ensure that Dartmouth is a place in which all individuals "feel welcomed and are given proper respect for being members of this diverse community."
"When the administration sends out information to applicants, all they see are pictures of happy heterosexuals holding hands. This sends the wrong message to gay, lesbian and bisexual students who might wish to attend Dartmouth," Ackerman said.
