Queer Advisory Council Held First Meeting, Decided To Gather Student Voices

The Queer Advisory Council, an offshoot of the Harvard Office of BGLTQ Student Life, held its inaugural meeting Saturday afternoon. The group, which is composed of one representative member from each of the eight BGLTQ-identified student groups on campus and five at-large members selected from the undergraduate community, aims to facilitate discussion about BGLTQ issues on campus and allocate funding to student organizations.

Kevin D. Tervala, graduate intern for BGLTQ Student Life and advisor to the QuAC, said that the group’s aim is to “fully represent the needs of students,” and explained that a key function of the council will be awarding money to student organizations that apply for grants through the BGLTQ Student Life office.

The QuAC will meet every month, and although its 13 voting members are the only representatives with the power to allot funding, the meetings are open to all members of the Harvard community.

Tervala started the meeting with an overview of the formation of the QuAC, and introduced attendees to the primary roles of the group which, in addition to funding, include advising the Office of BGLTQ Student Life on BGLTQ issues and serving as a forum for the BGLTQ-identified student groups.

“How you’re going to fill [these charges] is still up for debate,” said Tervala, adding that he wanted the QuAC to form a game plan for the rest of this year and end the meeting with a list of “actionable items.”

During a brainstorming session, attendees discussed a variety of ideas, from organizing discussion forums to using the QuAC to connect with the greater Boston BGLTQ community. Other ideas included establishing targeted advocacy for issues such as gender-neutral housing and creating spaces to discuss queer issues on an ad hoc basis.

The attendees collectively decided that the QuAC should first gather student voices to create a narrative of the issues most pertinent to Harvard’s BGLTQ community through the organization of a town hall-style forum.

—Staff writer Brianna D. MacGregor can be reached at bmacgregor@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @bdmacgregor.