Georgia Southern students protest termination of LGBTQ program

Justin Taylor, Craig Nelson | The Current

April 30th, 2024

Ellen Murphy, a representative for the Georgia Southern University students, reads a list of demands in protest the institution abruptly discontinuing programs designed to lessen discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. April 29, 2024, in Statesboro, Georgia. (Justin Taylor/The Current)

Students and faculty members at Georgia Southern University’s main campus held a sit-in rally on Monday to protest the termination of a program aimed at reducing discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people.

“By treating LGBTQIA+ services with a Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, you only harm queer students and the campus at large,” said a statement distributed by some of the roughly 200 protesters and supporters at GSU’s Russell Union.

The protests in Statesboro and at the university’s Armstrong campus in Savannah follow last week’s announcement by the university’s president, Kyle Marrero, that a program called Safe Space would be discontinued because it no longer conformed with state education policy.

Under last year’s revision of the University System of Georgia’s policy on freedom of expression and academic freedom, member institutions are barred from offering training that may include “affirmations, ideological tests, or oaths, including diversity statements.”

Whether the move against Safe Space signals a broader attempt to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at Georgia Southern and at other state universities and colleges wasn’t clear.

In their statement, the protesters called for a public apology from Marrero, as well as the “restoration of all previously available information from the LGBTQIA+ identities and resources to the public-facing GSU website” by May 3 and the “development of Safe Zone training and reinstatement of the training to university staff, faculty and students” by Aug. 14.

“LGBTQIA+” pertains collectively to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (or questioning their gender), intersex, asexual (or their allies).

Earlier this month, signs spelling out resources for LGBTQIA+ individuals were removed from public spaces on campus and from school-related digital spaces, the statement said. University staff were asked to remove pride flags and other LGBTQIA+-related signage from public view and notice was given that student-hosted drag events would no longer be permitted on campus.

In his announcement to Georgia Southern’s Faculty Senate last week, Marrero said the university was “looking at what other institutions have done that have moved away from Safe Space,” which has provided information and counseling to LGBTQIA+ people.

This story was provided by WABE content partner The Current.