Dear FEAST,

Some of you might find the recent protest at my university regarding not
including sexual orientation in the non-discrimination policy to be a useful
teaching resource.  Many of the faculty here have showed the youtube video
of the protest in class and discussed the implications for a private
university of including sexual orientation in the policy as well as the
effectiveness of such activist strategies for effecting change.

 

I'm sure that any support you would like to give to the students' cause
would be much appreciated.

  

Please find the video of the protest here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc3ergeeZok

 

An article about the protest in Cleveland's Plain Dealer:

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/02/post_206.html

 

The news clip that aired on Fox about the protest:

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/religion-belief/religious-leaders/john-c
arroll-PEHST000382.topic

 

Here is a segment of the Plain Dealer article referring to the "Community
Standards Statement" offered in place of including orientation in the
university's non-discrimination policy:

 

The section of the statement that has set off some students and faculty is
one that, just after saying that the university calls on everyone to respect
one another, states that the university reminds "members" of "the
traditional Catholic moral teaching that properly locates sexual activity
within the relationship of a man and a woman united for life through
marriage as husband and wife."

 

This section of the Standards Statement is quite akin to the Catholic
pastoral statements that Michel Foucault analyzes in volume 1 of the History
of Sexuality, so list members might find that part of use in the classroom
as well.

 

Hoping for a more just world,

Jen

 

 

 

_________________________

Jen McWeeny, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy

John Carroll University
20700 North Park Blvd.
University Heights, OH 44118
Phone: (216) 397-4783
Fax: (216) 397-1819
E-mail:  <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask]