So the school year has finally ended, and I feel like I can honestly say that I’m proud of the work I’ve done with OPEN. Everyone warned me that junior year is the hardest, and those warnings proved true. Besides the boat load of work, I managed to make it out alive with good grades and a successful club. Talk about a job well done. :)

This summer will largely be spent getting in contact with the people OPEN hopes to work with next year. For starters, the first group I’ll be hitting up is the local Boys and Girls Club. A wonderful volunteer and Clark alum started up a program to help eliminate the bullying and homophobia shared by patrons and staff members alike there. I’m hoping to continue the program with OPEN next year as we spread out into the Worcester community.

The club is really excited for a queer prom this upcoming year. I’m not really sure what it will consist of or where it will be held, but hopefully contacting the other LGBTQA groups in the area will start something. Any advice?

I’ll keep you posted over the summer with any developments!

After endless banner making, facebook spamming, and rainbow-ifying, OPEN’s Week of Awareness went off with a minimal number of hitches and horror stories. Alright, well no real horror stories, but the realization that you’re out a sound tech before a benefit concert is mildly gut-wrenching. Ahem, let me recap:

The University of Pennsylvania's admissions office is making history. This year, after those highly anticipated fat envelopes get mailed out, some students will receive an additional letter telling them about the vibrant queer community at Penn.

In an initiative to recruit more LGBTQ and Ally students, their campus organization the Lambda Alliance has teamed up with the school's admissions officers. According to this article which appeared in Penn's student newspaper yesterday, if an accepted student's admissions file reveals that they are a strong ally or if they come out in their personal statement, the admissions office will flag the files. These flagged files will then be sent a letter that is currently being crafted by the Lambda Alliance Vice Chairman for Communications Julia Moon. Students who write that they have not yet come out to their family or that they aren't comfortable with public knowledge of their sexuality will not be sent a letter.

This technique has long been employed by the University for racial and ethnic minority students, but this is the first time they will reach out to LGBT students specifically.

What do you think about this?

Do you think it's helpful, or an invasion of privacy?

Were concerns about LGBT life factored into your college decision?

Has your organization ever thought about approaching the admissions office?

Does your admissions office have up-to-date information about LGBT life at your school? Do they have pamphlets about your organization (if you have them)? Queer student representation at prospective or accepted student events?

Thinking of transferring or know any high school students?

Now that introductions are over, I thought I’d get you up to date with what my school’s LGBTQA group, OPEN, has been up to this year. This is going to be a mouthful, so I’ll break it down to the most central events.

It’s important that you get an idea of the campus in which my top secret gay lair—ahem, our office with the giant rainbow sign is located. Clark University is a small liberal arts school in Worcester, Massachusetts, and our undergraduate student body is somewhere around the 2400 mark. We’re exceptionally liberal—to the point where many of these feathers are too ragged to be riled—but there’s still work to be done. We’re situated in, well, not the greatest section of Worcester, but I think that only adds to Clark’s charm. It means there’s more to do, and more people to help out...