Beginning in the spring semester of 2005, the university will award scholarships to student activists who work with issues relevant to students of color who are also a part of the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender community.
The death of 15-year-old New Jersey resident Sakia Gunn, which resulted from a 2003 hate crime, became the motivation for a scholarship. Gunn was stabbed during a night out with her friends when two men found out she was a lesbian.
LaJoya Johnson, an interdisciplinary studies in health sciences junior, said the scholarship is a way to draw light to a growing community of people identifying with more than one minority group. Johnson is a part of the Alliance of LBGT Students.
"I felt like the media wasn't paying enough attention to Sakia's death because she's African American and a lesbian," said Johnson, who proposed the scholarship.
The number of scholarships and the amount of money to be awarded are undetermined as donations are still being collected from a variety of sources such as students, alumni and faculty.
A committee, formed by the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, the Office of LBGT Concerns and the Multicultural Center, is hammering out the application process details. The basic applicant requirements include being at undergraduate status, having a high grade-point average and addressing issues relating to students of color in the LBGT community.
Barbara Ball-McClure, director of development for the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, noted this is one of the few MSU scholarships relating to LBGT concerns, and the only one addressing both students of color and the LBGT community.
"Other than a Pride Endowed Scholarship Fund created a few years ago, this is the only other scholarship that specifically benefits that student population," Ball-McClure said.
A student labeled as an ethnic minority as well as a social minority has more of a chance of being an outcast, said Brent Bilodeau, assistant for the Office of LBGT Concerns. He also worked on the scholarship's coordination committee.
"There are ways in which racism and homophobia work to become a double penalty for LBGT students of color," Bilodeau said. "They are not only dealing with the weight of being a different race-ethnicity but also with the weight of being LBGT identified, which often leads to greater invisibility, oppression and silencing of a very important population."
Bilodeau said this is a huge step in recognizing the community's existence.
"It's very significant that this is one of the few scholarships in the country that addresses the intersections of race-ethnicity and sexual orientation-gender identity," Bilodeau said. "I think that the scholarship is very important because it's going to give greater visibility to an often marginalized part of the community."
For more information on how to donate to the scholarship fund, call the Office of Admissions and Scholarships at (517) 355-8257 or visit givingto.msu.edu.
