“For students with interests in queer studies there is no structure to support them and no funding. It is very important that we have space set aside in the academic sphere for this,” he says.

What’s in a Name?

Ten of the 18 Faculty members who have signed onto this initiative met for the second time Tuesday to discuss, among other things, what to call their proposed committee.

They agreed upon Studies of Gender and Sexuality—a name that was seen as the most inclusive by Faculty and the received the most student support in a survey conducted through the BGLTSA this week.

But to some, the name seems a unfortunate compromise, indicative of the continued public uneasiness with homosexuality.

“I believe that it is necessary for certain phrases like ‘queer’ to enter the public prose,” Epps says.

Another potential problem with the proposed name discussed by the Faculty at Tuesday’s meeting is its overlap with already established degree-granting women’s studies committee.

Mari Ruti, a lecturer on women’s studies who is also serving on the committee established by Epps and Love, says the women’s studies committee needs to define the relationship between women’s studies and the new queer studies committee, so that the two committees reinforce—and not detract from—each other.

“Many of our women’s studies professors are involved in this new [queer studies] committee and are very supportive and excited about this new effort,” she says.

Ruti also emphasizes that while women’s studies and queer studies both address some of the same issues, they are separate disciplines and ought to be treated as such.

“Housing the committee under women’s studies would unfairly emphasize the category of women over the category of gays and lesbians,” Ruti says.

On Other Campuses

As part of their effort to establish the new queer studies committee, Faculty plan to cite the existence of queer studies programs at other universities.

“Students here have no way to compare their experience to what is going on at other schools—and Harvard doesn’t look good,” Love says.

Yale University has had a degree-granting program in Women and Gender Studies since 1998.