Gay Student Leaders From Across New England Meet to Coordinate

Representatives from bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender groups at more than 10 New England colleges met in Emerson Hall last night with the hope of coordinating their efforts across the region.

The meeting was sponsored by the New England Queer College Organization (NEQCO), a group, founded by a Harvard student that aims to strengthen ties between bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender groups at different colleges.

With student leaders in attendance from Yale, the University of Maine, MIT and other schools, the group focused on planning for upcoming events including National Coming Out Day and a November dance in Boston City Hall.

In addition, participants said the meeting offered a forum for students from different colleges to brainstorm collectively and share experiences from past events that have been successful.

"[NEQCO] was designed to pull together the many [BGLT] college groups into a collective, sharing, overarching group," said Laure E. "Voop" De Vulpilliere '02, who founded NEQCO and organized last night's meeting.

De Vulpilliere said the organization, which was created last year in a meeting of Harvard Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queers (LGBTQ), was inspired by the many BGLT groups at area colleges that operate without support from similar groups in the region.

Last night's meeting also brought together several groups from Harvard.

Participants at the meeting said they were excited by the community-building prospects the organization had to offer.

"We are on our way," said one student leader from Yale.