Time after time, Saint Louis University’s administration has ignored and disregarded the needs of its students under the guise of upholding the Jesuit ideals of our University. In a zealous attempt to appease donors and the upper tiers of the administration, SLU has taken a stance of intolerance directed toward anything that may upset or anger our predominantly traditional-minded sources of endowment.

As a result, we find ourselves at a school that remains painfully archaic in its approach to so many pertinent issues. In 2006, a speaker for a youth AIDS awareness week was not allowed on campus because she hoped to advise those who were already engaging in premarital sex to use protection. In 2007, Pax Christi was dissolved under SLU’s Campus Ministry for promoting the message of peace amidst what is considered an unjust war.

Currently, SLU’s administration is taking action to shut down the All of Us Campaign, a Rainbow Alliance-sponsored movement for straight allies of LGBTQ individuals. I am outraged at the attitude the University has taken to dismiss a group of students who are simply fighting for equality and tolerance.
Somehow, SLU has found the campaign’s pledge of “freedom from discrimination and marginalization” to be counter to the University’s Jesuit principles. As a university that admits and matriculates students of different faith traditions, cultures and sexual orientations, it seems counterintuitive that SLU would then take steps to limit the basic human rights of a portion of its own population.

SLU has become a university that only seems to care about the opinions of its students after they have graduated and have become wealthy potential donors. I hope that one day SLU will stop looking toward the bottom line and will begin to consider how it can espouse the basic Jesuit tenet of finding God in all persons.

Mike Reddy
Senior, College of Arts and Sciences