CLAGS Forms New CUNY Committee
The The Graduate Center, CUNY (within which CLAGS is housed) draws its faculty from the senior colleges and community colleges of the CUNY system. This consortia! arrangement means that CLAGS is uniquely positioned to serve as a focal point through which queer students and academics at all the CUNY campuses can network with each other. The CLAGS Board of Directors, therefore, in conjunction with QUNY, the queer graduate student group at the Graduate Center, has decided to form a CUNY Committee to support the development of lgbtq studies throughout the CUNY system and to bring CLAGS into the intellectual life of not just the Graduate Center but of each CUNY school. The CUNY Committee is in the process of formulating a number of different steps to be taken, which we will detail in the Fall Newsletter. We welcome member input, and would very much like to hear ideas that you may have about how CLAGS can better service the New York City-wide CUNY system. Please forward your comments to the CLAGS office. Robert Kaplan CLAGS Board Member and CUNY Committee Chair
LGBTQ Youth Initiative
At CLAGS we have decided to address the growing importance of secondary educational systems as a site for the struggle for lgbtq rights. During the course of the year, the Board’s Advocacy Committee consulted various community-based organizations that provide direct services to lgbtq youth to determine CLAGS’s best possible contribution to this area. Almost all of the organizations we contacted said they would like a conference for professionals working with lgbtq youth. The Advocacy Committee then presented this idea to the Board, which sealed its commitment to a youth initiative by unanimously voting to dedicate a board position to a youth advocacy professional. We are honored to announce that Joyce Hunter has agreed to serve on the Board beginning this fall. Hunter is one of the founders of the Hetrick-Martin Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth, which is the home of the Harvey Milk School, the first educational initiative for sexual minority youth. Hunter brings to the Board years of experience with youth, and we are excited about the groundbreaking projects we will develop with her assistance. In the year ahead, we look forward to strengthening this new initiative, and we will keep you posted on the development of our plans. At this point, in addition to an lgbtq youth conference, we are considering a Seminar in the City devoted to youth issues; building ties between Board members and volunteer teaching projects within youth advocacy programs; as well as supporting other CLAGS-sponsored activities on the secondary education of queer youth. If you are interested in participating or contributing to this initiative, please contact me at the CLAGS office. Manolo Guzman CLAGS Board Member