Minnesota college bars gay couples from staying together on school trips

A disagreement over a University of St. Thomas policy that bars unmarried couples from staying together on school trips has grown beyond a simple debate about the rule. Staff members and some students at the St. Paul, Minn., school are now wearing black-and-red anti-"UST discrimination" buttons as well as buttons that symbolize support for a gay student group.

More than 130 faculty members signed a letter opposing the policy, and a dozen faculty members showed their displeasure by skipping an event where they were to be honored.

The snafu has intensified into a larger debate about tolerance at Catholic universities. Like many of them, St. Thomas has balanced its Catholicism with a desire to be open. It recognizes a gay and lesbian campus group, for instance, though members say their group has restrictions on activities that others do not.

"Things are incredibly tense here," said David Landry, a theology professor who signed the letter.

The unwritten trips policy was imposed last year after a lesbian choir director wanted to take her partner on a school trip to France. St. Thomas said that was inappropriate. The issue surfaced again in November when two longtime professors who have been a couple for more than a decade were asked to rent separate rooms on a student trip to Australia.

University officials acknowledge the travel policy was unclear and are working on a more detailed rule, and they are planning several forums at which the university president, the Reverend Dennis Dease, will listen to concerns. But they're also defending the decisions, arguing that St. Thomas must model Catholic values in interactions with students.

"We believe in diversity of people and ideas," school spokesman Doug Hennes said. "At the same time, we need to balance that with being a Catholic university. That can create tension and can create issues such as this one."

Landry plans to offer resolutions at a faculty senate meeting Tuesday regarding the travel policy and concerns about the climate for gays and lesbians on campus.

"I think there's at least some indications that the university is moving in a more conservative direction, and that might be part of a broader trend within Catholicism," he said. "A lot of people who have been here for quite some time and are not Catholic, or support a more progressive form of Catholicism, are concerned."

On the other side of the argument is Robert Kennedy, professor and chairman of the Catholic studies department. "No Catholic university could properly endorse or plead indifference to unmarried partners sharing a room," he said. "It's reasonable to expect faculty at a Catholic university to meet certain expectations."

Sleeping arrangements for gay and unmarried professors on trips with students had not been an issue until last year, when several students raised concerns about the choral director bringing her lesbian partner. (AP)