In an attempt to expand their services to the Dartmouth community, the Coalition for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns may create a computerized registry of homophobic incidents at the College.
The registry would help the coalition "to get a sense of where around campus these events are happening, ... and it would serve as a planning tool for us," said co-Convener of the coalition Wess Jolley.
The purpose of the coalition is "mostly to provide support for faculty members and staff," Jolley said. "We have been kicking around some ideas of how we can better serve the rank and file employees" of the College.
"We have a small subcommittee of the coalition that is working on the registry," said subcommittee member Anna Jaeger, the coalition's information specialist.
The committee has had several meetings about the possible database of homophobic incidents, Jolley said, stressing that "it is all completely in an idea phase right now."
"We haven't decided it's really going to happen," he said. "There's nothing really official yet."
The idea for the registry came about "as we were brainstorming" at one of the coalition's regular meetings, Jolley said.
He added that he "had never heard of" similar databases at other universities.
"I've heard of other schools keeping track," Jaegar said.
Jaeger explained that the coalition is currently investigating the legal ramifications of creating the registry.
"We are going around talking to the various departments to find out about what we should do with reported information," she said, emphasizing that "probably just a couple of people would have access to all of the information."
She said people will have several ways in which they can report incidents to the registry.
Anybody within the Dartmouth community would be able to report homophobic incidents via telephone, electronic-mail, a Hinman Box or one-on-one conversations, Jaegar said.
"It will be either completely anonymous or confidential, depending on the wishes of the person" reporting the homophobic incident, Jolley said.
The types of incidents reported "could be anything small like writing on someone's door to personal attacks, verbal or physical," she said. "There are no guidelines yet."
When asked about possible abuse of the registry, she said, "I think there are always concerns." Bart Bingenheimer '94, who is a part-time advisor to the Dartmouth Rainbow Alliance and the coordinator of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Programming at the College, serves on the subcommittee but was unavailable for comment.
