Margaret Himley wants Syracuse University to implement an LGBT studies major and hire more faculty with backgrounds in LGBT studies.

Himley, director and co-founder of the LGBT studies minor, has drafted a potential curriculum for an LGBT studies major with the program’s core faculty. The major’s curriculum hasn’t been proposed yet due to the lack of faculty committed solely to LGBT studies, she said.

“I think students are quite hungry, actually, to apply this to the real world and make a difference,” she said.

SU introduced the interdisciplinary LGBT studies minor in 2006. The program does not have any full-time faculty. While core faculty members are consistent instructors for the LGBT studies program, their primary responsibilities remain in their individual departments.

“It’s just kind of a side thing they do,” said junior Elliot Pippin, an LGBT studies minor. “It’s not their main focus.”

Pippin is one of 16 SU students currently pursuing the minor. He didn’t know Syracuse University offered an LGBT studies minor until his sophomore year. It’s hard for students to know it’s available when there isn’t an LGBT studies department, he said.

Pippin, a television, radio and film major, said he would have considered a double major in LGBT studies if it were offered at SU. He plans on incorporating LGBT studies into his passion for storytelling, he said.

“Lived experience will get you a lot, but learning critically about the history of people like yourself elevates your ideas about things, especially in TV and film,” Pippin said.

Having an LGBT studies major as well as a department of research-committed faculty would boost LGBT-inclusive efforts on campus, said Gizelle Jayne Vidal, resident adviser to SU’s LGBTQ+ Learning Community.

The University Senate Committee for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Asexual (LGBTQA) Justice and Advocacy has discussed a potential LGBT studies major multiple times and supports its establishment, committee member Francine D’Amico said.

D’Amico also served as former chair of Chancellor Kent Syverud’s Workgroup on Diversity and Inclusion, which formed in 2015. The group held two campus-wide listening sessions, and students and faculty advocated for expanding the curriculum on LGBT studies, she said.

Himley said the university will begin searching for a scholar in Black queer studies next fall as part of SU’s Cluster Hires Initiative. The scholar will be the program’s first faculty member with a discipline solely in an area of queer studies.

T Passwater, a PhD student in the composition and cultural rhetoric program, was a teaching assistant for the minor’s two required introductory courses. Having faculty who are committed only to the LGBT studies curriculum would allow for better courses, they said.

“We need an LGBT studies faculty member,” Passwater said. “I feel like that needs to happen before anything else can really change.”

Published on February 2, 2020 at 8:14 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan