“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
-Anonymous

Most of us can attest to having heard this statement at various points in our lives. Whether in reference to an appliance, a behavior or even a relationship, the steadfast idiom has long been deeming mediocrity acceptable.

So what should be done, then, when mediocrity falls into disrepair? That is the challenge presented to Residential Life in the ILS housing system, and I hope they are prepared to face it. Because with the loss of their house, the Queers and Allies (Q&A) are not only losing a base for their organization, they’re losing a safe haven, a social space and a home.

Let’s go over a little background information. “ILS” stands for Intentional Learning and Service. It used to be a program that provided campus-sponsored houses for special interest groups through Residential Life. Older students will remember that some of these houses were once occupied by groups like the Greens, theater students and Queers and Allies. Those were all technically considered on-campus housing options, although they required a separate application process to the ILS program.

However, you may have noticed the past-tense nature of this description. Residential life discontinued the ILS program for this school year, saying that “the system we were using just wasn’t working” and that “the ILS program is something that we would consider bringing back eventually, but for now it was just not working the way that we would have liked.” But when exactly is this ambiguous eventually? There is no sense of urgency in eventually. Eventually strikes me as a diplomatic byword for “when we feel like it.” I think that the Gustavus community, especially Q&A, deserves better than that.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to discount other Gustavus organizations by singling out Q&A in my protest. There are plenty of groups on campus that could benefit from having their own space. In fact, PASO (Pan-African Student Organization) and ACC (Asian Cultures Club) still have their own houses due to a special arrangement with the Diversity Center, and they use these spaces to provide educational opportunities to the rest of the campus. But from a strictly social perspective, depriving Q&A of a place to call their own only sets the college back in its commitment to community and justice, which are two of Gustavus’s five core values.

I like to believe that Gustavus is a welcoming community of open-minded and tolerant individuals. Having said that, hate and biased behavior is certainly not unknown here. E Pluribus Gustavus made it abundantly clear that hateful acts affect all of us. But Gustavians that identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or queer have an especially difficult time of it.

From 2007 to 2009, the only reported hate crimes on campus had to do with sexual orientation. The number of unreported incidents can only be guessed. As a community, we have not made it easy to be a queer student at Gustavus.

The Q&A house served as a proverbial lighthouse in otherwise stormy seas. It was a place where homosexual and heterosexual students alike could gather and know that they would not be judged by whom they chose to love.

Sure, there were parties, and maybe that wasn’t on the ILS agenda. But other venues always meant that a belligerent homophobe might choose that night to make your life difficult, or that you wouldn’t be able to hold hands with your significant other without eliciting stares and whispers.

Ideally Gustavus students and staff would be able to prevent these kind of incidents from happening. But we have to be honest with ourselves—there are still members of our community that use religious and personal motives to foster hate toward those they consider “deviant.”

Gustavus is a religiously affiliated school, and though the vast majority of Lutherans and Christians here use that affiliation to practice tolerance and acceptance of others, we should remember that the rainbow-ified rock was painted over with scripture last year by extremists It seems, for now, that Gustavus is still fighting ignorance and hate. Our school should at least do its best to offer its students protection from such insidious behavior.

By taking away the Q&A house, Residential Life is depriving a significant group of students the opportunity to have a living and social environment in which they feel totally safe. And that is why “eventually” is just not soon enough.