SEMO PANEL WILL LOOK FURTHER INTO SEXUAL ORIENTATION ISSUE

Southeast Missouri State University's affirmative action committee says it will look into proposals to include rights for homosexual students in the institution's non-discrimination policy.

The Student Senate and leaders of student organizations, including the Gay and Lesbian Student Association (GLSA), have called for such a provision. Faculty Senate Chairman Allen Gathman also has offered a similar proposal.

The university policy prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or handicap.

The proposals call for adding "sexual orientation" to the list.

The issue was discussed Wednesday by the Faculty Senate and later in the day by the affirmative action committee.

Provost Leslie Cochran told senators that the issue raised some questions. "What are we trying to correct or accomplish?" he asked.

He questioned if a sexual orientation provision would have an impact on the two ROTC units on campus "because they do discriminate on this basis."

Faculty senators tabled the proposal to allow time for the affirmative action committee to consider the issue.

The affirmative action committee, chaired by faculty member David McElreath, met Wednesday afternoon in the University Center. The affirmative action committee is an advisory body to the administration. University President Kala Stroup attended part of the meeting.

Committee members told Stroup that the issue of sexual orientation had been raised previously. Sexual orientation was included in an affirmative action statement drafted by the committee in 1990.

The committee on Feb. 27, 1991, issued a "respect for diversity" statement that also included the words "sexual orientation."

It stated: "Southeast Missouri State University is dedicated to the principal that any written or spoken words or gestures for the purposes of intentionally demeaning any individual or individuals based on, but not limited to, race, age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, physical handicap, or national origin are inconsistent with the values and the mission of the institution."

Committee members said the philosophical statement was never addressed by the previous administration. Wednesday, the committee said it would submit the statement to Stroup.

Earlier in the meeting, Stroup said she had been unaware of the committee's previous actions regarding the sexual orientation issue.

"I think this committee, we, can be a focal point for positive change here," McElreath said.

Committee members agreed Wednesday to set up a subcommittee to study the issue and determine what impact such action might have on university programs, employees and students. The group will also try to define "sexual orientation."

Gathman said the Faculty Senate proposal he drafted dealt with sexual orientation as it applied to homosexuality.

"Sexual orientation is different from sexual behavior," he said. In Missouri, he said, homosexual acts are illegal. Sexual orientation is a different matter, he said.

Gathman said there are no federal regulations as to sexual orientation. He said he talked with an official in the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights who indicated that there would be "no problem" in adding sexual orientation to the non-discrimination policy.

Committee member Johnda Boyce of the GLSA and Gathman argued that the diversity statement is different from the non-discrimination proposal of the Faculty Senate, which deals with student and employee rights. The diversity statement, they said, raises First Amendment free-speech questions.

Committee members said the U.S. military, including the ROTC, has a longstanding policy against homosexuality in any form. ROTC members are required to state they are not homosexuals in order to serve in the armed forces.

But committee members maintained that adoption of a sexual orientation policy at Southeast would not close down the ROTC units because they are governed by military rules.