1,000 rally for gay rights at college

NEWTON -- About 1,000 cheering Boston College students, staff, and faculty gathered at the center of campus yesterday in a show of support for a student-led campaign to expand the school's nondiscrimination statement to include equal protection for those who are gay.

The midday rally followed two weeks of meetings between university officials and student leaders, who said yesterday they are close to an agreement that would address students' concerns while preserving the legal protection that the Roman Catholic university's leaders say it needs.

''This is the most beautiful day I think I'll ever see at BC," said sophomore Chris Young, a gay student who told the crowd at the rally he almost didn't enroll at the college because he feared that he wouldn't be welcome.

Chanting ''equal rights now" and wearing T-shirts printed with the slogan ''Gay? Fine by me," the crowd filled the open area of campus known as the dustbowl at noon yesterday. After roaring their approval of several speeches by students and faculty, demonstrators marched around campus hoisting hundreds of blue signs that read, ''End discrimination." University police estimated the size of the crowd at roughly 1,000; they reported no problems.

Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, said the university is welcoming and does not discriminate in its hiring practices or tolerate harassment. But as a Catholic institution, he said, BC must preserve its legal right to make decisions consistent with Catholic convictions.

''To include sexual orientation could mean that outside authorities, namely the courts, could require BC to approve and fund activities that are in conflict with the values that sustain us," he said.

But students have ''rightfully pointed out that our policy is not welcoming enough," he said, ''and we're meeting with them to try and change that without giving up our rights."

Rally organizers called for students to boycott classes yesterday to protest the current nondiscrimination policy, a request that appeared to produce mixed results. While some students interviewed on campus yesterday said their professors canceled classes because of the rally or agreed not to punish students for being absent, others said attendance seemed normal. ''In most of my classes, it was like any other day," said Jim Maher, a sophomore.

To some students, though, the day was anything but typical. The rally followed months of vigorous lobbying by student activists, who collected 2,000 student signatures in February in support of the policy change and organized a referendum on the issue a month later, in which 3,500 students voted in favor. The university enrolls 9,000 undergraduates and 4,700 graduate students. The rally was originally scheduled for April 8, but was postponed to respect the funeral of Pope John Paul II.

''It's been very historic for the school," said Mike Yaksich, a BC senior and director of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues for the student government. ''We're feeling very enthusiastic and energetic, and we will continue to work with the administration to reach a conclusion everyone's happy with."

Students said the campaign is in keeping with the Jesuit teaching of advocacy.

''Students come here to get a Jesuit education, and they're learning not to be complacent when they see injustice," said Nick Salter, an organizer with the student campaign. ''Some students are saying they want to tell their kids that during this civil rights era they weren't standing on the sidelines."

The current nondiscrimination policy, required by law of all colleges and universities, declares that BC ''does not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, age, national and ethnic origin, religion, disabilities, marital or parental status, veteran status, or personal history." In a separate sentence added in 1999, after pressure by students, the policy says the university, ''in a manner faithful to . . . Jesuit, Catholic principles," complies with state law requiring ''equal opportunity without regard to sexual orientation."

In 2001, after antigay graffiti on campus led to student rallies, student leaders stepped up requests for a more inclusive policy revision that would treat sexual orientation the same as categories already guaranteed protection. The following year, students reacted with outrage when the Princeton Review ranked BC second in the nation on its annual list of schools that are unfriendly to alternative, or gay, lifestyles. More pressure by students followed, and in 2003, the Rev. William Leahy, BC's president, agreed to recognize a gay-straight student group called Allies.

The university's 30-year-old student group exclusively for gay, bisexual, or transgendered students, known as the LGBC, has office space on campus but has never been officially endorsed by the administration because its mission conflicts with Catholic teachings. If the nondiscrimination statement were updated to give equal protection for sexual orientation, the administration could be forced to fund or recognize the gay group, a university official said.

Catholic universities have struggled for years with the tension between their religious beliefs and the need for tolerance of diversity.

The College of the Holy Cross in Worcester has included sexual preference in its nondiscrimination statement for at least 10 years, a spokeswoman said, and Georgetown University also includes sexual orientation in its policy.

Some BC faculty alleged last spring that two top candidates for an endowed English professorship were rejected by the president because they were gay, a charge denied by administrators.

Speaking at yesterday's rally, BC English professor Paul Lewis said the current policy allows the university to discriminate in hiring and therefore weakens BC ''by limiting our ability to find and hire the best people."

''By appearing to be intolerant, we discourage some of the best students and professors from coming here," he said to loud cheers. ''BC's current position is embarrassing, indefensible, and wrong, and it's also self-defeating."

''It was a good time," said junior Tim Pitta. ''It's not every day you get to speak out on other people's behalf."

Jenna Russell can be reached at jrussell@globe.com.