As the spring semester comes to a close, one can’t help but look back on the events at Loyola that define the ’07-’08 year. The issues and occurrences on campus determine each year’s tone in every student’s mind, more so than a yearbook and in ways that a yearbook never can.
In my mind, this year has been marked by the few incidents that forced Loyola to take a long hard look at itself and its members. Since then, tolerance has become a prominent word on campus and we have refused to let the year be remembered by the ugly moments alone. The past two semesters have witnessed a coalition effort among the student organizations, like the Black Student Union, Loyola Asian Student Association, Muslim Student Association, Bridging the Gap, Loyola Society for Civic Engagement and Student Government Association, to speak out against the intolerance on campus.
By reasserting their presence on campus, these organizations remind this community that we are not all as insensitive and unaware of the world as these incidents make us seem. When the next freshman class comes to Loyola, they’ll know what the admissions department meant when they marketed Loyola as a critical thinking social justice university.
Etcetera was among the diverse organizations that participated in this coalition. Etcetera is Loyola’s only GLBT organization. For those wondering, the acronym GLBT stands for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender community. Allow me to give a brief history: First founded in 1991 as a student outreach group under the name GOAL (Gay Outreach at Loyola), the organization has played a significant role in the lives of its members throughout its time.
As one might expect of a Catholic institution, it met its share of friction at first, but disappeared and the group was fully integrated into the community. In the spring of 2001, GOAL was re-chartered under the name Etcetera to foster a more inclusive purpose. In the same year, tragedy struck the group as a freshman that was active in the organization was killed after being struck by a car.
In memory of this young man, Etcetera created an endowed scholarship funded through their first ever Gayla dinner and silent auction. Etcetera continued to hold the Gayla dinner annually, to present the Geoffrey scholarship to any Loyola student who had shown an exceptional dedication to the GLBT community.
It has been Etcetera’s prerogative to keep an active presence within the community. This has not always been the case. The last Gayla dinner was held in 2005 and has not taken place since Katrina. In the past few years since the return from the hurricane, Etcetera’s presence dwindled to its lowest.
Having been in the process of regrouping, it has not been a presence on campus at all. To the ’07-’08 members of Etcetera and myself, this absence was unacceptable. After all, what does it say about a community when its reformation omits and forgets one of its members? I am proud to say that today Etcetera has not remained forgotten.
We have regrouped and ready to bring back the Geoffrey scholarship to Loyola for the first time in three years. Friday, April 25, join us as we honor the 2008 Geoffrey scholarship recipient in the St. Charles Room; and help us remind this community about the ideals of social equality and tolerance that this organization so cherishes.
Chiara Marcial is a philosophy junior and can be reached at [email protected].
