(The Beacon)
By Philip Ellefson Staff Writer ellefson15@up.edu
After University President Fr. Bill Beauchamp wrote a letter to the UP community published in The Beacon April 11, students associated with Redefine Purple Pride chose not to hold a demonstration expressing frustration with the administration's response to student concerns.
Redefine Purple Pride, a group that seeks to compel the administration to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the Nondiscrimination Policy, wrote a letter and posted a YouTube video April 7 asking Beauchamp to address questions they felt had gone unanswered. The letter said Beauchamp had not explained his view on the Nondiscrimination Policy or laid out the timeline for making a decision.
"We hope that this letter will solicit a direct response from you, outlining the process and timeline of the PACI committee as well as the legality of the discussed changes to the non-discrimination policy," the letter said.
The letter also said if the group did not receive a response by April 12, they would hold a demonstration.
Beauchamp's April 11 letter explained that the Ad Hoc President's Advisory Committee on Inclusion (PACI) had gathered student and faculty concerns and was working on reporting them. He also said policy changes cannot be made until after the Board of Regents meeting May 11.
"I continue to be grateful to the members of the PACI for their work, and to all of the students, faculty, and staff who have contributed personal stories and recommendations to this effort," Beauchamp wrote in the letter. "The most important thing is that we are a community where we all feel safe and respected."
Senior Janie Oliphant, a Redefine Purple Pride member, said students were glad about Beauchamp's response.
"For most people, we did not want to host another protest," Oliphant said. "But we felt like it was the only alternative in the absence of answers and dialogue that we have been repeatedly requesting."
Oliphant said Beauchamp's letter was appreciated, even though it didn't answer every question directly.
"He certainly didn't answer all of our questions we wrote in the letter, but he opened the space for dialogue," Oliphant said.
In addition to writing the letter, Beauchamp also promised Redefine Purple Pride members he would meet with individuals to listen to their concerns. Oliphant said students were looking forward to meeting with Beauchamp for transparent discussion.
"I hope that that dialogue can create more of an on-campus dialogue and that we can, instead of being closed-door, have more open-door meetings where everyone's included in what's happening," Oliphant said.
The group had also said it would distribute fliers about the controversy to prospective freshmen and parents at Weekend on the Bluff. But after Beauchamp's offer to meet with students, they decided not to.
"Since things are moving in a positive way, we didn't want to make it more negative than it needed to be," Oliphant said. "I can't speak for everyone, but I didn't think that showing all these kids that are thinking about coming to our school the negative aspects would be, overall, beneficial to us."
