WISCONSIN – Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools and currently has a student body of 11,600.
Marquette University appears to have few LGBT students, certainly those who are open about their sexuality, and those who are out on campus face ongoing harassment in classrooms and residence halls, according to an investigation commissioned by university officials and revealed by the Wisconsin Gazette.
This hostility is not reserved just for the student body as faculty members also face an unpleasant atmosphere. One professor, who wished to remain anonymous, told an investigator, “As a lesbian faculty member, I am in constant terror that I will become the next big campus controversy, so I tend to avoid campus events and speaking out.”
These findings are in a 31-page report by Ronni Sanlo, senior associate dean of students at UCLA. She undertook the investigation after being invited by Marquette to examine campus issues related to sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.
Sanlo’s investigation was prompted by a hiring scandal at Marquette when university president Fr. Robert A. Wild made but then withdrew an offer to out lesbian scholar Jody O’Brien to serve as dean of the college of arts and sciences.
One of the report’s most disturbing findings is that the university does not allow students to report hate incidents without being publicly identified.
