As the new school year opened at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills an event highlighting LGBTQ+ resources felt like a breath of fresh air to some students.
The Rainbow Reception offered students a chance to talk to employees who help coordinate related services and learn more about the support options at the college, including counseling and how to report discrimination and harassment.
Kit Harvey, a second-year student obtaining an associate science degree who hopes to specialize in environmental science, pointed out the availability of a form that allows students to change a birth name to better fit with sexual orientation.
“I think it’s good for LGBTQ+ students to see they’re welcome and that there’s staff and adults who are safe people to go to,” Harvey said.
For Junie Pacella, a freshman studying cardiology and psychology, the event was a relief after high school, where the only formal mention of LGBTQ+ was during an AP history class.
“It’s a big jump from that one page in AP history class,” Pacella said. “No one ever wants to talk about queer people and when they do, it’s not good. The (high) school was not very good at making students feel safe and a lot of people were homophobic or transphobic.”
Both Harvey and Pacella came to the event as part of their LGBTQ Humanities class. The class covers the artistic and intellectual expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and a transgender people in Western and non-Western cultures through the ages. The college also has a Human Sexuality class and Sociology of Sex and Gender, but the humanities course is a more recent offering.
“To me it’s very important every school has a support group and (a course with) a history of LGBTQ+ culture, politics and art, because of the cultural impact that’s under-appreciated and to give students a chance to explore their own identities,” said Marc DiPaolo, associate professor of Humanities, who teaches the course and encouraged students to attend the event.
Lisa Kelsey, assistant dean for Liberal Arts, said the course’s popularity is growing. Randy Connor, a former MVCC professor who has since died, saw the need and started the course.
“He loved creating and teaching it and sharing the knowledge with students,” Kelsey said.
She said the reception was helpful for new and returning students.
“When you’re a brand new student, everything is overwhelming,” said Kelsey. “It’s helpful to have small events. We have it in the Student Union, so they come here anyway.”
Maria Elena Belmontez, department assistant, Multicultural Student Affairs, agreed.
“We’re definitely trying to make sure there’s a lot of representation on campus,” she said.
Jeffrey McCully, professor of sociology, who also runs a Celebrating Diversity Committee, LGBTQ+ Subcommittee, and advises LGBTQ students, said interest in the event was evident as some students arrived at the reception 20 minutes early.
“It’s also an opportunity for students to socialize and hangout,” McCully said.
But he said there’s still work to be done. The college had as yet not come up with a demographic profile of this population, though he and students have been asking for it.
Another important resource at the reception was information about Title IX, the federal civil rights law that protects students from sexual violence and discrimination.
“If they come to report it, our office investigates it,” said Jo Ann Jenkins, Title IX coordinator and the dean of Student Success. “Sometimes it’s out of ignorance, sometimes people have been operating in their own space and don’t realize it’s offensive or discriminatory.
“Just because you don’t like something, doesn’t mean it’s okay to put your views on other people,” she said.
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
