“Students on our campus are being heard in many ways in which students on other campuses are not,” said Marianne LeFrance, chair of Yale’s Fund for Lesbian and Gay Studies.

In 1994 Brown University founded a sexuality and society major, which draws faculty from a number of different departments.

According to Gretchen M. Schultz, the chair of that program, Brown’s program is well-received by that university’s administration.

“The Brown administration is consistently reaching out in support of new programs and disciplines,” Schultz says.

Given the presence of such programs at other university, Laure “Voop” de Vulpillieres ’02, the Harvard student who founded the New England Queer College organization, says the differences between Harvard and its peer institutions are troubling.

“Harvard is a lot less invested in its queer students and this is only going to lead to a greater sense of alienation of the queer community,” she says.

To prove the legitimacy and importance of the field, interested students have begun to organize their support for the Faculty’s efforts. They plan on forming their own group to promote greater academic support for queer studies.

“Epps and Love have gone above and beyond the call of duty and have demonstrated a passion and energy not often found among Harvard professors,” Tremitiere says. “But there is no question that students should and need to take an active role in these efforts.”

—Staff writer Jessica E. Vascellaro can be reached at vascell@fas.harvard.edu.