The Ball State University LGBTQ+ Alumni Group is now live. This group aims to use the strength of our LGBTQ+ alumni to help build a campus and online community that celebrates and empowers their unique voices. With this group comes increasing visibility and the championship of protections and equitable, systemic changes that benefit all.
The LGBTQ+ Alumni Group has been steadily building over the past few years. Sue Taylor took the initiative to begin laying the groundwork for the group. After Sue’s retirement, Kevin Mullaney, Associate Director of Alumni Engagement, inherited a very active focus group eager to get things up and running. September marked the inaugural meeting, and that narrowed the group’s mission as an organized alumni group and acquired University brand marketing materials before recruiting the Ball State LGBTQ community.
“The last thing we wanted to do was rush into this without any real sense of direction and lose any momentum and excitement from our alumni community,” says Kevin.
The LGBTQ+ Alumni Group operates on three guiding principles:
- Visibility—To create an environment that encourages LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff, and alumni to be their authentic selves.
- Development—To build and improve upon opportunities to make Ball State an equitable and safe space for the LGBTQ+ community.
- Community—To strengthen bonds across stakeholder groups to increase interest and investment in LGBTQ+ causes on campus and throughout the Ball State Alumni community.
As of this writing, this new group is already 121 members strong and counting! To join and show support, please visit the group’s Facebook page.