THE MICHIGAN DAILY NEW STUDENT EDITION PERSPECTIVES THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1994
Page 9B
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Programs Office
'U' office works to improve life for gays, lesbians
By RONNI SANLO
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Programs Of-
fice (LGB) at the University is undergoing
exciting changes as it embraces a future of
clarity and positiveness for the lesbian, gay
and bisexual communities. Among the
changes are the initiation of new programs
*nd services, the opening of the James Toy
Library, expanded opportunities for volun-
teers and extended office hours.
LGB will be co-sponsoring several major
events during the school year, including pro-
posed concerts by Kate Clinton, Melissa
Etheridge, the Indigo Girls and Phranc. Na-
tional Coming Out Day on October 11, will be
observed by a week of programs and activi-
ties including a celebration of local heroes
and history.
LGB will remember brothers and sisters
lost to AIDS at the World AIDS Day events
on December 1. We will honor Martin Luther
King by offering a major event featuring
lesbian, gay and bisexual African Americans.
Weekly movies, brown bag discussion
lunches, book salons and coming out support
groups will be on-going throughout the year.
The Educational Outreach Program will
offer a personal growth workshop in addition
to the facilitated seminars available to class-
rooms, offices, departments and to the com-
munity at large. There will also be panel
discussions specifically geared to students
who are conducting research on lesbian, gay
and bisexual people.
The James Toy Library, named for the
person who founded LGB in 1971, will house
books, magazines and organizations' news-
letters. The library will be an inviting and safe
place in which students may study, conduct
research or simply read. The library and the
office, with expanded office hours to include
evenings and Saturdays, will be exciting places
in which volunteers may contribute their time
and talents.
Volunteers are also needed to staff infor-
mation tables for LGB at such places as
Festifall and informational fairs, to facilitate
peer support groups and to participate on the
LGB speakers' bureau.
When entering the LGB Programs Office
suite on the third floor of the Union, people
will find a three-foot by five-foot Rainbow
Flag, donated by Common Language Book-
store; a lounge area with newspapers, pam-
phlets from campus and non-campus organi-
zations, bulletin boards with housing and re-
source information; and a diverse and friendly
staff who cares about the well-being of les-
bian, gay and bisexual people at the University.
To meet our goal of building coalitions on
campus, we have initiated the Queer Steering
Committee, an organization consisting of rep-
resentatives from the many lesbian, gay and
bisexual student, faculty, staff and alumni
groups at the University. We are also working
with non-LGB groups to promote a spirit of
inclusiveness and diversity throughout the
campus community.
We welcome not only lesbian, gay and
bisexual people, but also families, friends and
people who need information. Our telephone
number is 763-4186.
We look forward to meeting you.
- Sanlo is director of the University's
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Programs Office.
, How to
survive
college and
macaroni
4 By JEAN TWENGE
"College," a high school senior
once said to me, "is like summer camp
with less rules."
Welcome to the world's most ex-
pensive'summer camp.
Well, you'll be learning calculus
and Marxist theory instead of canoe-
ing and macaroni art (whose idea was
that, anyway?), but there are some
similarities.
' *The Apache cabin was never as
exciting as the dorms. You'll make
fast friends, lose some through the
inevitable vicious gossip, and keep
others for life. Those childhood con-
versations about who likes whom,
how hard the spelling test was, and
why they never got off Gilligan's
Island will morph into dining hall
conversations about who's sleeping
With whom, how hard the physics test
was, and how the characters on
Gilligan's Island represent the seven
deadly sins, and this shows once and
for all that the religious freaks control
the media.
Your parents will both want you
to leave so they can finally sleep at
night and do what they want, and not
want you to leave so they can sleep at
fight and do what they want. You
ight feel the same ambivalence -
though it's great not telling anybody
where you're going and when you'll
be back and the license plate number
of your friend's car ("What if it's
stolen, dear?"), you might miss Mom
the first time you oversleep for class.
After all, every class you miss is costing
you about $65 in tuition (that's out-of-
state, but you in-staters will spend the
difference driving back home.)
This is where the part about "less
rules" comes into play. Sure, you no
longer need a hall pass to go to the
bathroom and you can even (gasp!)
chew gum in class, but there's a dark
side to this blissful freedom.
Take money, for instance. Accord-
ing to my American Heritage "Col-
lege" Dictionary (that's only kind they
ake, which is why you need to go to
aollege, I guess) definition four of
"bounce, v." is "what college stu-
dents do with checks." It used to be
that a $5 allowance a week was pretty
cool, and now you've got thousands
of dollars just sitting there in your
checking account. Just don't do what
your humble columnist did as a first
year in college and fly to California
on it. A couple of beers at Rick's your
*udget can probably handle, but splurge
too much and you'll be whining for
more money on the phone to Mommy
and Daddy.
But with some luck you'll end up
knowing more than yourparents, which
is thewhole reason they're spending all
of this money. You might even learn
some things in the first few weeks that
will amaze them. Of course, not every-
ne has a father like the one I overheard
t the bank last summer - when the
teller gave his daughter her ATM card,
he asked incredulously, "You mean
she's going to get money out of a
machine?"
I restrained myself from asking to
see his rotary phone, though I would
have settled for pellbottoms and a CB
radio.
--Twenge is a Daily columnist and
a second -year graduate student in
psychology.
United Asian American Organizations
. .s
Asian Amencan
leaders join forces
By HUGH MA
The United Asian American Or-
ganizations (UAAO) is a coalition of
Asian American groups created by
University student leaders to serve
the interests and needs of the Asian
American student community. Estab-
lished in 1990, UAAO now maintains
a dozen member organizations repre-
senting a spectrum of backgrounds
and interests that embodies the com-
munity. UAAO membership is open
to any organization with interests in
Asian American issues at the Univer-
sity. Along with representatives from
member organizations, UAAO is
composed of an executive board and
other interested individuals ranging
from first-year students to graduates
working together for the Asian Ameri-
can community.
UAAO acts as a central advocate
for Asian American concerns and pro-
motes awareness of the community's
interests in all aspects of campus life.
UAAO has helped in the estab-
lishment of an Asian American Stud-
ies Department, aided organizations
in receiving much-needed funding,
held an Asian American Pride March
and participated in the yearly plan-
ning and execution of Asian Ameri-
can Heritage Month. It is in these
activities and in the cooperation of
student leaders that UAAO serves the
Asian American community. Equally
valuable are the combined experi-
ences and knowledge of the individu-
als and groups who compose UAAO.
Throughout all its activities,
UAAO is motivated by the desire to
inspire strength and pride in the Asian
American community. UAAO
strongly encourages those with inter-
ests or questions to become involved
with UAAO or any Asian American
organization on campus.
-Ma is newsletter editor for UAAO.
Hues: minority studen
search for ideni
By THE BAKER-MANDELA
CENTER BOARD
In he winter of 1987, the campus
exploded when Black students, sup-
ported by other progressive students,
organized to fight against blatant rac-
ist attacks and institutional racism at
the University. Students formed the
United Coalition Against Racism
(UCAR), which presented Univer-
sity officials with a list of demands to
make the University more accessible
and equitable for people of color.
The Baker-Mandela Center(BMC)
is a multi-racial, student-run facility
initiated by UCAR. The center's pri-
mary goal is to encourage research and
activism regarding issues of race, class,
gender and sexuality and to challenge
Euro-centric, racist, sexist and
homophobic paradigms.
Since BMC was created through
political struggle, the underlying phi-
losophy of the center is to think in
order to act. We try to create theo-
retical work that can be of practical
use. That means engaging in educa-
tional projects that have direct con-
nections to struggles being waged on
and off campus. Since most people
of color are excluded from universi-
ties, channels must be created through
which "scholarly" work is made ac-
cessible and relevant.
We were unable to include all mi-
nority organizations in this section,
but wehope the following listgives you
some idea of the breadth and scope of
some of the groups on campus.
The Asian American Associa-
tion was founded to provide a more
accepting environment for Asian
Americans on campus, especially to
overcome stereotypes and combat
the University's lack of commitment
to Asian American issues.
Alianza, the Latino Student Alli-
ance, began eight years ago as
SALSA, the Socially Active Latino
Student Association. Students
formed the group out of the need for
a Latino community when Latinos
were so few and isolated on campus.
It has been a source of Latino activ-
ism on campus since its foundation.
The Armenian Students' Cul-
tural Association bears a dual torch:
to preserve the cultural roots of its
members and to educate others about
the 1915 Armenian genocide.
The Black Student Union spon-
sors the annual Martin Luther King
Jr. Day Unity March down South
University. The group works to ad-
dress issues relevant to the Black
community and Black students.
The Hellenic Students Associa-
tion began several years ago with a
The Baker-
Mandela Center
is a student-run
resource and
research facility.
The goal is to
encourage the
study of the
issues of race,
class and gender.
EVAN PETRIE/Daily
t groups
Ity
political focus. Now, HSA strives to
maintain the spirit of Hellenism and
modern Greek culture.
The Hindu Students Council
(HSC) is an international forum to
promote an understanding of the Hindu
culture and heritage. Every year HSC
celebrates various Hindu festivals such
as Diwali, Pongal and Holi on campus
with either a traditional religious cer-
emony or folk dances.
The Korean Students Associa-
tion works to promote Korean/Ko-
rean American unity, pride and cul-
tural awareness.
The Native American Student
Association was formed with a com-
mitment to promote the interests and
awareness of Native Americans at
the University. Together with Mi-
nority Student Services, members
plan the Ann Arbor Pow-Wow, which
is among one of the largest pow-
wows in the country.
UMAASC, the University of
Michigan Asian American Student
Coalition, serves as a voice to pro-
tect and advance Asian American
interests as well as to foster coopera-
tion between cultures and races. By
fighting racism, discrimination and ste-
reotyping, UMAASC hopes to dispel
inaccurate preconceptions and promote
a positive environment for all races.
BnivkenskodK
I
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