The following is a guest blog from student Lindsay Jakows, co-president of Reach OUT, a student effort at the Churches of Christ-affiliated Pepperdine University. Campus Pride has been keeping up with Pepperdine students' efforts. Our executive director, Shane Windmeyer, recently wrote about Pepperdine and Notre Dame at the Huffington Post . We’re glad to be able to support Pepperdine and Notre Dame students in their efforts to make their campus safer and more inclusive for LGBT students.

Pepperdine Reach OUT co-presidents Lindsay Jakows and Alexander Cooper.

Pepperdine Univeristy President Andrew K. Benton making a statement about Reach OUT's denial at his Feb. 1, 2012, briefing with faculty and staff.

I couldn’t be more excited to be leading Reach OUT’s campaign for recognition at Pepperdine University. After years of negotiating with administrators, Reach OUT, an unrecognized group of LGBT students and allies launched a change.org petition in January appealing the Dec. 13, 2011, denial of our request to become officially recognized with the university.

This movement is hardly new, but has only recently organized into action after being denied. To date, four LGBT groups at Pepperdine have either been rejected or seriously discouraged from applying, including “Students Against Homophobia” in 2004 and GLEE (Gays, Lesbians, and Everyone Else) in 2007. Reach OUT organized itself in the fall of 2010 from a previous Facebook page called “OUT.”

The biggest challenge to receiving recognition has been the university’s discomfort with anything less than a total condemnation of same-sex sexual activity. In order to address the administration’s concerns, Reach OUT added a clause in its constitution saying that it does not endorse same-sex sexual activity. However, this was not enough — the administration demanded an explicit condemnation. Reach OUT has made its case loud and clear that it should be able to hold a neutral position on same-sex sexual activity without forcing the university to endorse its decision. Other schools, like Loyola Marymount University, “disassociated” all clubs from the official viewpoint of the administration, allowing its LGBT club to be recognized. Furthermore, Pepperdine is inconsistent when it allows multiple political clubs with differing viewpoints to exist, and when the student newspaper includes a disclaimer that allows for differing viewpoints.

Another response our group has received from some students is a “like it or leave it” argument that seems to say that we should accept the university’s decision because we came here understanding that it was a conservative Christian school. This argument makes little sense when I had no options other than conservative Christian universities because of family pressures, and some students in our group weren’t even aware they were gay until college. By that illogic, no one should ever work to improve policies of an organization they chose to associate with.

Read the rest of Lindsay's commentary after the jump...

Outside of Pepperdine, some students in our group have been forced into reparative therapy by their families, contemplated or attempted suicide, or got kicked out of their homes or financially cut off.

Gay students have been told they shouldn’t have come to Pepperdine, and one religion professor explicitly expressed his personal view that gays are going to hell. Several students have only been allowed to remain in leadership positions on campus with the understanding that they will not engage in same-sex relationships.

Pepperdine holds the affirmation statement, “truth has nothing to fear from investigation,” yet students are completely deprived of discourse on LGBT issues. In its 2011 accreditation report, The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) stated that Pepperdine’s “climate of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’” prevents it from appearing “safe for open discourse.” Futhermore, professors feel extremely uncomfortable demonstrating any support for the LGBT community or, at times, even touching the issue for fear of not receiving tenure.

Although a survey measuring attitudes on LGBT issues has never been conducted at Pepperdine, I would say that a majority of students would be supportive of Reach OUT. However, it is not uncommon to hear students make extremely ignorant comments, like misquoting incorrect statistics about gay promiscuity.

Additionally, talks like the Relationship IQ series put on by the Boone Center for the Family at Pepperdine are completely silent on addressing healthy same-sex relationships. This is not to say that a healthy same-sex relationship should be significantly different from a healthy heterosexual relationship, but rather that the Relationship IQ series often assumes strict gender roles in dating relationships, and this model often does not apply to gay students.

On Oct.11, 2010, Reach OUT partnered with Campus Ministries to organize “Building Bridges Through Prayer: Stories of the LGBT community.” Stories anonymously submitted by LGBT students (describing both positive and negative experiences about coming out or being closeted to their families, friends, at Pepperdine, or church communities) were placed around Stauffer Chapel. Students were able to read the stories and write responses of love and support. Five authors of the stories read their stories aloud in front of the chapel, and campus ministers led prayers for love and understanding. The same event was repeated last October.

In November 2011, Dean Mark Davis organized the Building Bridges Committee, which sought to address some concerns about policies toward LGBT students. During the 2010-2011school year, the Building Bridges Committee included only one meeting in which students could participate and share their experiences. During the 2011-2012 meeting, six students were selected by Mark Davis to take part in changing language in the student handbook to sound friendlier toward LGBT students, but not to substantially change policy. Building Bridges also formed three subcommittees, including a support group for questioning students facilitated by the counseling center, an educational programming subcommittee, and a harassment policy subcommittee. The educational programming committee has yet to plan a single event, and has taken a focus toward developing “recommendations” rather than implementing any actual programming. The harassment policy subcommittee, of which I am a member, has been very successful in developing instances of anti-LGBT harassment that result in discipline; however, preventative measures are needed before any harassment occurs.

Reach OUT at Pepperdine will next use the emails collected from the petition to urge alumni to sign a boycott pledge and to call the Office of Annual Giving and write to the Board of Regents expressing their unwillingness to give until policies change. We also are working on a rally demonstrating physical support for our cause on campus, and any forums for academic discussion of the issue that we can manage through Campus Ministry or the social science division. The support we’ve received so far has been incredible, and my co-president Alexander Cooper and I are confident that we can continue building more passion for our cause!

For more information about our efforts, email reachoutatpepperdine@gmail.com, and join the Facebook group “Reach OUT at Pepperdine.”