Student Alliance for Sexual Healing, or SASH, a new organization which aims to align students' sexuality with "scriptural standards," is applying for the status of a contracted independent organization.
SASH aims to "provide a forum for University students struggling with their sexual identity to discuss their sexuality in an environment that respects their faith," according to an email sent by the organization's leadership to first-year College student Joe Leonard.
SASH also places emphasis on changing sexual orientation.
"We do primarily focus on the quiet, confidential healing gathering of the minority of people who want to actively change their same sex attraction," the email also said.
The group is in the process of updating its constitution to continue seeking CIO status with Student Council, Assistant Dean of Students Michael Citro said in an email.
The organization said it was not seeking CIO status and declined to comment further.
Aneesha Rao, Student Council vice president for organizations, said a number of LGBTQ organizations, including Queer Student Union, have raised concerns regarding SASH's potential CIO status.\n"Although SASH claims not to be hostile towards queer people, their message is anti-gay," states an email signed by the executive boards of QSU, Queer & Allied Activism and Sigma Omichron Rho. "Overall, we feel that this group is targeting our minority, and we cannot allow this organization to form."
Council aims to alleviate these concerns by increasing student access to the resources offered by QSU and SASH, Rao said.
"These are two groups that offer resources to a subset of the population, and how I'm trying to quell these fears is being a means of communication between Queer Student Union and the students," Rao said.
Rao said she will introduce SASH's CIO application to the body of representatives at Council's general body meeting next Tuesday.
Once Rao has proposed SASH along with other potential CIOs, Council's representative body will vote whether to accept the group's proposal. This will be approved or dismissed by a majority vote, though Rao noted the decision is usually unanimous.
Any attempts to prevent SASH from forming could be seen as a violation of its First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
"I give a lot of deference to the First Amendment both in terms of freedom of association and freedom of speech, not to mention freedom of religion." University President Teresa A. Sullivan said. "So I'm not sure it's my business to say whether that organization can exist or not."
The 1972 Supreme Court case Healy v. James dealt with a similar situation in evaluating the actions of the president of Central Connecticut State College, who did not allow a politically radical student group to form on his campus. The court ruled in favor of the students, stating the First Amendment applies to all states and state colleges.
Rao agreed with this precedent, noting that "this group has every constitutional right to form."
Sullivan also pointed to the issue as one of inclusiveness.
"We adopted a new diversity statement last year which is intended to emphasize inclusion, rather than who we don't discriminate against," she said. "So I think that the ideal that we're trying to hold ourselves to is that the University seeks to be an inclusive community in which we include people rather than looking for reasons to exclude them. ... As it applies to student organizations, that's a much more difficult issue."
Some members of the LGBTQ communities have expressed fears this group may lead to sexual confusion, particularly among younger students.
"Our worry is that [SASH is] going to attract a set of first years who are confused, and they're going to be offering them one set of views that we believe to be false," QuAA executive member Seth Kaye said.
Kaye worries that increased sexual repression at the University may lead to increased suicide rates, referencing a study by the American Psychological Association into appropriate therapeutic responses to sexuality.
First-year students may be particularly susceptible to groups that provide a formal structure to augment their repression of their sexuality, said Russ Federman, director of the University's Counseling and Psychological Services.
"People who are struggling on their own may believe that through that group affiliation it may help them to suppress those feelings," Federman said.
Federman said it is important to respect the different ways in which students deal with the conflict that arises between their faith and their sexuality.
"If you see a hundred different people, you will see a hundred people who will deal with it differently," he said.
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