In an effort to make Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., a safer environment for LGBT students and allies, a petition has been started online by Alexander Cooper, a senior and member of the unrecognized Gay Straight Alliance group Reach OUT.The GSA applied to become an official student organization on Nov. 9, but was rejected four days later by the Catholic university's administrators. In the message accompanying his petition, Cooper said, “this is the fourth time that a gay-straight alliance has been denied or discouraged from applying.”
Cooper launched a Change.org petition over the weekend, which has garnered 640 signatures as of Tuesday morning, with a goal of hitting 1,500 signatures. The petition urges administrators to consider officially recognizing Reach OUT.
Pepperdine's Office of Student Affairs said in a statement that recognizing Reach OUT would “imply to many that Pepperdine is not honoring our affiliation with the Churches of Christ.”
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges' 2011 accreditation report said “Pepperdine’s ‘climate of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ prevents it from appearing ‘safe for open discourse.’”
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