The Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay College Conference (MBLGCC)
has allowed hundreds of students, faculty, academic staff, and community
members from Midwest states to gather annually for education, growth, entertainment,
and networking. With our sponsorship of this conference, we hope to foster
the growth, education and leadership skills of GLBT students, as well as
their allies, from colleges all over the Midwest. PRIDE is delighted to
submit this bid and eager to move into more extensive planning should our
bid be accepted.
The University of Illinois at Chicago:
This urban campus is located to the immediate southwest of Chicago's famed
downtown Loop. Our campus has an enrollment approaching 25,000 students
with 2,376 faculty. We have two campus areas - one specializing in health
sciences (which houses our medical school, the UIC Medical Center, and five
other health science colleges). We are the largest university in the Chicago
area and the only campus in Illinois to have an office serving the lesbian/gay/bisexual
community with full-time staff. PRIDE, one of the most active student organizations,
has established a close relationship with the Chancellor's Committee on
the Status of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues (CCSLGBI).
University Support:
The administration at University of Illinois at Chicago is supportive of
the above goals for the conference. Should our bid be accepted, our Chancellor
has allocated $10,000 towards the conference with a matching $10,000 from
the budget of the CCSLGBI. With administrative and logistical support from
staff at the Office of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns, PRIDE believes
our initial base of $20,000 provides strong financial support on which to
build this conference.
Projected Attendance:
Since the beginnings of MBLGCC, there has been a steady increase in attendance
and scope of this conference. The 1997 gathering had 600 registered participants.
We expect a similar growth pattern in Chicago. Our estimated expenses for
this bid project a registration of 600 but we can accommodate 800 people
(possibly more).
Facilities:
UIC has two student unions. We have reserved space in the Chicago
Illini Union for the weekend of February 20 - 22, 1998. Rooms in
nearby academic buildings will be available for workshop/ breakout session.
We also reserved space in Chicago Circle Center , our other
student union, on Friday and Saturday nights for entertainment and dances.
Food service is available in both buildings and there are a host of restaurants
within easy walking distance of campus. By next winter, both of our unions
are expected to be able to accommodate people with physical disabilities
with upgrades in the physical plant such as improved signage and the installation
of elevators.
We have reserved a block of rooms at a discounted rate at the Hyatt
at University Village and the Quality Inn . The Hyatt
is an easy walk from the conference site. The Quality Inn is
less expensive but will requires an inexpensive cab ride to the conference
site. We are also trying to secure space in hotels located in the heart
of Chicago's gay/lesbian neighborhood for those who don't mind commuting
several miles to the conference. Our campus is easily accessible via public
transportation (bus and train) and has adequate parking for a weekend conference.
We also plan to solicit housing in the community for registrants with limited
means.
Possible Key Note Speakers:
We are pursing availability and negotiating fees for these people. Our fund-raising
efforts will dictate our final selection of these or other speakers
Political issues: Urvashi Vaid, Sabrina Sojourner, Michelangelo
Signorile
Transgender issues: Leslie Feinberg, Martine Rothblatt, Kate
Bornstein
Anti-violence issues: Crae Pridgen, Claudia Brenner
Latino issues: Wilson Cruz
Coming out/athletics: Greg Louganis
Content sessions:
We have identified topics for potential break-out sessions. We will, of
course, not limit proposals to these topics but we encourage and solicit
proposals to cover the following areas:
* Coming Out
* Gays in the Greeks
* Religion & Spirituality Issues for LGBT Communities
* GLB People of Color: Challenging Divided Identities
* Bisexuality: Overcoming Biphobia
* Advice for Advisors of LGBT student organizations
* Safer Sex -- HIV/AIDS
* Feminism & the Queer Movement
*Transgender: What is it? Who is it?
* Issues of Invisibility in Bisexuality
* Making the Case for a Multi-race/ Multi-ethnic Queer Movement
* Networking between Universities: How to Build Coalitions
* Queer life on an Urban Campus
* Out in the Boon Docks: What it's Like to be Queer in a Rural Area
* Political Strategizing in the 90's: How do we organize?
* Establishing a Safe Space Program on your Campus
* Partnerships with other Minority Campus Organizations
* How Not to Fight the Right: Tolerance includes Christian Groups Who Hate
Us
* Substance Abuse Issues in the Queer Student Population: Causes and Alternatives
* Why UIC? Why we chose this campus and our experiences here as Queer students
* Life After Diagnosis: Living With AIDS/Living Without Fear
Entertainment:
We plan to have one evening of entertainment. These are some of the people/groups
for which we are already investigating availability and fees:
Suzy Berger, Bob Smith, Karen Ripley, Karen Williams, Harvey Fierstein
Melissa Ferrick, Ani DiFranco, Eric Lane Barnes
Romanovsky and Phillips, Lea DeLaria, Scott Thompson
Ulali ,Ellen DeGeneres, Grace Jones
We are also planning two dances (one will follow our entertainment event).
Both will provide a safe and sober place for the multitude of under-21 students
we expect to register . We also expect to open up these dances to local
LGBT high school students.
Registration :
The registration fee for 1997 was $35.00. For the 1998 conference, we anticipate
charging an early/advance registration fee $35.00
and a regular registration fee of $40.00 .
We plan to allocate $500.00 in registration scholarships for students who
cannot afford the fees. There will be a discount provided to students who
register from a college or university that is financially cosponsoring the
1998 conference.
Outside funding :
We plan to sell advertising in our Conference program to local LGBT vendors
and organizations (e.g., restaurants, bars, bookstores, clothing stores).
Our program book will also contain hospitality information and guides to
area establishments of interest to conference attendees.
We also plan to offer colleges and universities in the Midwest an opportunity
to be a conference sponsor. A $200.00 sponsorship would provide ad space
in the program book and a reduced registration fee of $25 or $30 (the amount
will be determined as out budget is finalized) for each student from that
college or university.
We also plan to generate some monies from fund-raising events of our own.
In addition, we are seeking monies from campus groups which fund programs
and conferences. We are also seeking funds from the corporate sector and
have already approached Lucent Technologies for their consideration should
our bid bet accepted.
We also plan to have an exhibits area for local businesses and agencies
and to charge a modest fee to each exhibitor.
Promotion
We plan to advertise the conference in multiple ways. We will send a mailing
seeking program proposals in the early fall to Midwest colleges and student
organizations. In December, we will begin mailing brochures to solicit registrations
for the conference. In addition, we plan to make extensive use of internet
listservs and to establish our own area for the conference on the QUIC:
Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual community at UIC web site (http://www.uic.edu/depts/quic/
). In addition, we anticipate sending press releases to all midwest LGB
publications and, if possible, to all student newspapers in the region.
We also plan to place ads in many midwest LGB publications.
We look forward to your review of our bid and hope that you cast your vote
in favor of accepting this proposal. Thanks for your consideration.
The UIC MGLGCC Steering Committee:
Aysha Ali
Holly Barnes
David Barnett
Jo Campbell
Lekasha Davis
Osvaldo Del Valle Franklin Forbes
Sean Foley
Dean Gui
Willie Horner Johnson
Angela Johnson
Shannon Kenney Kelly McCray
Angie Meen
John Moldanado
Jane Moore
George Kenneth Morrell
Jennifer Mueller
Paul Newman
Yesenia Nunez
Donna Pitz
John Russell
Matt Sheils
Alison Terczak
Carl T. Wilson
PRIDE (M/C 118)
c/o Campus Unions--East ( 312) 996-4424
750 S. Halsted, 312D CCC e-mail: pride@uic.edu
Chicago, IL 60607 http://icarus.uic.edu/stud_orgs/pride/
submitted March 19, 1997