Equality Alliance holds educational seminar

Following the Day of Silence event on the Oval, students presented an education seminar about LGBT issues designed for faculty at Missouri Southern. 
‘A Welcoming Southern', presented by the Equality Alliance, included presentation of a safe zone guidebook as well as a discussion panel about sensitivity issues in the classroom. Ivy Love, senior French and Spanish major, presented the safe zone guidebook as a resource to Southern faculty and a guide in making campus a safe space for LGBT students. 
"We kicked it off with the presentation of the Missouri Southern Safe Guide, which I actually wrote and Dr. (Hillary) Fogerty helped me with, that is just to show faculty and staff how to be an ally and how to support the LGBT community," Love said. "That went over very well."

The guidebook includes information about using gender neutral language in class, mentioning LGBT historical figures in the context of class content, as well as a terminology list which clarifies the definition of terms like queer and intersex. 
The following panel discussion about inclusion of LGBT students as well as adding LGBT language to the non-discrimination policy included Natalie Bruce, an adviser from Advising Counseling and Testing; Laren Curry and Randi Tucker, both freshmen from Pittsburg State University; and Ruth Eichenger, sophomore biochemistry major. 
The seminar also included readings submitted by students, faculty and alumni of Southern about their experiences as or regarding LGBT students. Love said the auditorium was nearly full during the readings. Topics ranged from specific instances of discrimination to more positive experiences with faculty or fellow students. 
"We had a couple monologues," Love said. "One was written just for the event and the other was pulled from a play. We also had David Betts read a poem that he wrote. He wrote it a couple weeks ago and performed it at one of the events and then did it again for the symposium. It's called ‘Closet Boy.' That went over beautifully. We had a really, really good crowd at that time."

All readings supported the inclusion of LGBT language into Southern's non-discrimination policy. 
The seminar concluded with five scene performances by students from Missouri Southern's theatre department, three from stage productions and two original pieces, one by Betts, junior healthcare administration major, and one by Fogerty, assistant professor of English and philosophy.