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Fresh snow at Marquette University’s St. Joan of Arc Chapel.

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Snowy Marquette Hall at Marquette University.

PLEASE READ!

Hello Tumblr,

Long time no see. I’m taking a brief reprieve from my academic hiatus to ask for your help. If you could please take the time to read and share this, I would REALLY appreciate it.

I am a student at Marquette University. Though I myself am not a Catholic, Marquette is a Jesuit institution and generally adheres to Catholic ideals. However, we do have an active Gender-Sexuality Alliance, and I’m proud to say that the president, Fr. Pilarz, recently supported the opening of a new Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. We still don’t have the most open campus when it comes to issues of gender and sexuality, but I like to think we’ll get there someday.

As most of you know, yesterday was National Coming Out Day, a day to celebrate and embrace humankind’s diversity of sexuality and to support our gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, transgender, etc. (sorry if I forgot to list you!) friends, family, and even strangers. Traditionally, to recognize NCOD, the Gender-Sexuality Alliance places small rainbow flags on one of the quads on campus. Yesterday, my friend took a picture of one of these flags and tweeted it for Marquette’s Campus Ministry.

(An aside: I have been inside the Office of Campus Ministry and was pleased to see a “gay is not a synonym for shitty” poster on one of the employee’s doors. I don’t consider myself religious in any way, but it made me proud to be a part of a university that could be so accepting regardless of its Catholic affiliations. As I understand it, the official stance of the Catholic church, while not endorsing a homosexual lifestyle or gay marriage, is to be supportive and accepting of gays and lesbians as people. Clearly, some Catholics are better at following this than others. But I do think it’s worth mentioning that I have met quite a few Catholics here who fully support gay marriage.)

Anyways, after the picture was tweeted, a conservative Catholic blogger saw it and immediately reacted with disgust. Campus Ministry was pressured to delete the tweet, but conservative bloggers continue to criticize the University. From what I am told, the University is still receiving calls from those who were “offended” by the tweet.

Two blog posts:
http://badgercatholic.blogspot.com/2012/10/marquette-campus-ministry-celebrates.html
http://mu-warrior.blogspot.com/2012/10/marquettes-very-gay-campus-ministry.html

The negative reaction to such an innocent, good-natured, supportive tweet sickens me. I know it’s a small minority, but my friend is really upset by the “scandal” this has created, and so am I. I think it’s a disgrace that Marquette is taking steps to cater to these trolls by deleting the tweet and apologizing for it. My friend should not have to apologize for this, Campus Ministry should not have to apologize for it, and the University should not have to apologize for it.

I don’t quite know what I’m getting at here. I just felt that someone else should be as indignant as I am right now. I guess I was wondering if some of you could please take the time out of your day to contact Marquette, through e-mail or a phone call or even a tweet or tumblr post, and show some support for the previous tweet celebrating NCOD, although it’s been deleted. I just don’t want Marquette to think they should be catering to the demands of these hateful people.

I don’t have a lot of followers, so for those of you who see this, would you mind reblogging?

To contact Marquette:
marquetteu.tumblr.com
twitter.com/marquetteu
twitter.com/MUCampusMin
facebook.com/MarquetteU
Office of Marketing and Communication: (414) 288-7448 
Fr. Pilarz: scott.pilarz@mu.edu 

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My new favorite t-shirt: Marquette University Quidditch.

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“I took the pieces you threw away and put them togather [sic] by night and day washed by rain, dried by sun, a million pieces all in one.”

This large-scale photograph in Marquette University’s Brew Bayou was taken at the Rev. Howard Finster’s Paradise Garden. Finster (1916-2001) transformed his Summerville, Georgia home and surrounding acres into a folk art outdoor museum. The “I took the pieces” sign is now part of the permanent collection of the High Museum in Atlanta.

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Week 25: Johnston Hall
When Johnston Hall opened in 1907, it was Marquette University. Johnston Hall was designed to serve as a one-building university with a two-story library, an auditorium, science laboratories, classrooms and even Jesuit living quarters. Today Johnston Hall is home to the College of Communication and the Instructional Media Center. The building honors Robert A. Johnston (1846-1907), a bakery executive and university benefactor.

Part of the Marquette Campus: A to Z photo series.

Home sweet home.

As eager as I am to go home, it won’t be long ‘til I’m missing MKE. (Taken with instagram)

That’s what I’m talking about @marquetteu (Taken with instagram)