Syracuse University to Launch LGBTQ Alumni Alliance in Boston on Feb. 21

Wednesday, February 20, 2013, By Cyndi Moritz

All Boston-area SU alumni are invited to attend a reception to learn more about the newly created Syracuse University LGBTQ Alumni Alliance on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. at Club Café, 209 Columbus Ave., Boston. Those attending will have the opportunity to learn how SU is working to create a safe, nurturing community for lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer and transgender students, and those questioning their sexuality and gender.

The reception is the first in a series of similar events around the country. The intention is to develop a network of LGBTQ alumni from SU and their allies around the world to create closer ties to the University, advocate for and support University initiatives related to diversity and inclusion for LGBTQ students, faculty, staff and alumni, and raise funds to support the University’s initiatives for the LGBTQ community.

Among the things the alliance hopes to accomplish is to develop social networks for LGBTQ alumni using social networks; raise awareness of LGBTQ issues; mentor LGBTQ students at SU; and assist in the effort to build gay-straight alliances in Central New York high schools.

Robert Mitchell G’75, vice president of the SU Alumni Association, came up with the idea for the Syracuse University LGBTQ Alumni Alliance. “I saw a need for us, as a distinct group of alumni, to find our voice and exercise it in support of initiatives that help the University continue to move in the direction of greater support of SU’s LGBT community, and in support of issues that are important to the LGBT community in general,” he says.

The planning committee, chaired by Mitchell, included SU Alumni Association board member Jason Jedlinski; David Murray, executive director for special campaigns and initiatives in SU Office of Advancement and External Affairs; D. Chase Catalano, director of SU’s LGBT Resource Center; and Ellen King, former executive director of the Office of Alumni Relations at SU.

Catalano says, “We welcome the LGBTQ Alumni Alliance as an added resource to help in the important work of supporting LGBTQ students, faculty and staff. This will also help us to reach out to alumni after they leave the SU campus and support them throughout their lives.”

Other receptions are planned for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Syracuse.

For more information, contact Murray at 313-443-5178 or drmurray@syr.edu.