Public Funding just for gay students?
Posted by Moonage on 20 Apr 2006 | Tagged as: Opinions
First of all, before going any farther, it’s important to note a few facts about this situation:
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Williamsburg is a town of about 5,000 people tucked in the Appalachians. This ain’t a sprawling metropolis. Everyone in Williamsburg knows each other or who they are. Alternative lifestyles in a town this size stick out like a sore thumb. It’s not obscure, it’s not "underground", you’re never just a member of the nameless millions wandering the cold streets of a city. You are noticed everywhere you go.
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The Univesity of the Cumberlands, formerly known as Cumberland College, is primarily funded by the Southern Baptist Convention. Although a liberal arts school, it’s still deeply rooted in religion. Always has been, I see no reason why it always can be. Diversity is a good thing ( yeah, I know what you’re going to say, so read further ).
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The University of the Cumblerlands is a very small school. Enrollment is about 1,700 people. Once again, everyone knows you.
So, you’ve got a situation where a guy decides to bring attention to himself for being gay. No big deal under most circumstances. However, this guy is attending a very small religious school in a very small ultra-conservative community that he knew was a very small ultra-conservative community before he went. The Baptists have never been too accepting of gay lifestyles. So, imagine the kid’s shock when they decided a very small Baptist school in a very small community felt it was best he pursued his career somehwere else that didn’t have a moral conflict with his lifestyle. From reading the story, he seemed to feel that was OK with him and he enrolled at Eastern Kentucky Univsersity. I am an EKU alumni and KNOW they are accepting of gay students. Plus, the kid is now attending school with his boyfriend. Happy ending? Well, not quite. His boyfriend has apparently decided to protest Cumberlands’ decision and enlisted the help of Kentucky’s only openly gay legislator. In essence, they are protesting the state’s decision to fund a new pharmacy school in the foothills of rural Kentucky. Now, I’ve got two thoughts on this situation.
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First of all, as a primarily Baptist school ( read regligious in general ), they have the right to set ethical standards for all of their students.
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Banning funding only hurts the people living in southern Kentucky, not the school itself.
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This is purely a political issue the boyfriend is raising at the expense of the former student. That’s a very selfish thing to do by the boyfriend. If the former student wants to lead the protest, I’d be a little less leary of it. As it is, I almost feel like this was done intentionally to embarrass UofC.
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Schools all over the world set standards. I would prefer to see these standards raised even higher as I feel like the quality of person colleges are cranking out has dropped substantially since the 60’s. If you don’t like the standards a particular school has set, take your money somewhere else. Gay students are welcome at MOST colleges in this area. To pick on probably the only one that is based in religious values just doesn’t wash with me.
That’s just some thoughts. I’m sure I’ll have more as this thing progresses. It’s been suggested that Governor Fletcher will use his line-item veto to scratch the pharmacy school from the state budget. I think that’s a mistake and Ernie’s seeing the issue presented and NOT the big picture.
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( Updates already. I thought more about the original post and decided to scratch it. Sorry to Mindo for wasting her time. Secondly, as much as Scorsone has bitched and moaned and suggested funding would be cut, according to today’s news, it won’t be. )
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