Posted: 04/04/07

Forging a ‘Common Ground’
St. Michael’s gay-straight alliance renovates its image

Rachel Haven | fact checker
rhaven@smcvt.edu

The gay-straight alliance at St. Michael's College, formerly known as “Ally," is hoping to transition from shaky ground to “Common Ground.”

President Michelle Merola and vice president Kyle McElheney form the letters "C" and "G" with their hands- representing their new club name, "Common Ground." (photo, Rachel Haven)

The new title, announced at the March 20 Student Association meeting, is the result of an effort to re-vamp the group’s fading image and lack of presence on campus.

"We are changing the club because Ally had some weaknesses," says Julia Blakeney-Howard, head of advertising for Common Ground. “It just basically needed a makeover.”

A fresh start

The group decided to change the name after its club title, “Ally” was constantly mispronounced and people were confused by its meaning.

“No one has ever liked the name as long as I have been here,” Club Secretary Jennifer Hunt, a junior, says. “No one ever knew what Ally meant — that it’s an abbreviation of ‘alliance.’ The name change was just something that needed to happen.”

Group members took a vote to decide the club name, choosing between “Common Ground” and “Alphabet Soup” — a name that references the acronyms that are often used in reference to sexual orientation. “Common Ground” received the most votes, putting “Ally” permanently to rest, according to Blakeney-Howard.

Although the name switch is the most visible of the group’s changes, it has been hard at work behind the scenes to produce a more effective club backed by efficient leadership.

Rather than placing responsibilities solely on the club’s president, as it did in the past, the group has devised a plan to divide tasks evenly.

"Now we have a board, and we are delegating responsibilities," Blakeney-Howard says. "People are putting themselves in these positions where they’re prepared to do the work.”

The club hopes that with a new name and fresh leadership approach, more students on campus will want to get involved in the group and its sponsored events.

"Our focus is not on having a place just for gay people to come,” says Kyle McElheney, vice president of Common Ground and a first year at St. Michael’s. “It’s called the gay-straight alliance because we would like the whole community to be involved. We don’t want to have the connotation that we are a gay dating service or what-not.”

A troubled past

Common Ground is hoping that its new title and approach will help it ditch the old stereotypes and negative perceptions that appeared to plague “Ally.”

The group's new logo is the letters "C" and "G," filled with many of the different labels for sexual orientation. (photo, Rachel Haven)

"We were really disorganized in a lot of ways, and I think that’s why Ally had a bad reputation on campus,” Hunt says. “People didn’t understand who we were. Common Ground is trying to change that.”

McElheney says that when he first came to college he wasn’t involved with Ally as a result of the negative things he heard about the group.

“People had told me that Ally just wasn’t the thing to do, even if you were gay,” McElheney says. “They were so serious about issues and they talked about a lot of things that people didn’t like. They weren’t an asset to the homosexual community.”

Junior Sarah Schwarz, former president of Ally, says she left the group out of frustration at the lack of committed members.

Schwarz joined Ally her sophomore year, and although the club had approximately 15 members, only three or four of them showed up on a consistent basis.

“I stopped going because I felt like it was a waste of my time,” Schwarz says. “It’s hard to stay passionate about something when it seems that nobody cares — even the group members and group leaders.”

Schwarz says that although she thinks the name switch and change in leadership are good ideas, she fears it won’t make a huge difference in group’s reputation and lack of fresh faces.

“People automatically assume the gay-straight alliance is a bunch of gay people socializing,” Schwarz says. “I think that people are afraid that if they join they will be labeled as gay. I’d like to think that the name change will make a difference and I hope that people will prove me wrong.”

Out with the old and in with the new

Since officially switching to ‘Common Ground,” the group has been hosting events aimed at both having fun and educating students on campus about issues of sexual orientation.

Common Ground set-up a bulletin board outside of Alliot displaying up-coming events, and pictures of the board members. (photo, Rachel Haven)

They recently hosted local singer and songwriter Gregory Douglass, who performed for a sizable crowd in Eddie’s student lounge on March 22. Douglass, besides being a talented musician, is gay.

"He did a rocking show,” says Hunt, who organized the concert. “Common Ground is trying to do more stuff like that. “It covers a bit of the issues, but it’s also about having an entertaining evening — something that the campus can enjoy.”

The club is looking to bring other events to the college in the future, including musical acts to the Turtle Underground, a panel discussion on the issue of Catholic faith and sexuality, a slam poet, and other events to help raise awareness around campus. It is also hoping to team up with different groups, including the MLK society and Green-Up, in bringing future events to campus.

Group members hope that Common Ground will be able to do just that — create a common ground on campus, where students will be accepted despite their differences.

Blakeney-Howard says that the new club is about ”finding a common ground where people can relate to each other no matter what their views and no matter what level they’re looking at things.”