Gay and lesbian financial aid opportunities growing

By: Makoto Yamagishi

Posted: 3/28/05

According to a story released by U-Wire's Washington, D.C. bureau, financial aid for gay and lesbian students is growing to more than 100 different scholarships.

A new scholarship for Western Illinois University students follows this trend and Western students are encouraged to take advantage.

Martin Dupuis, political science professor, established a new scholarship for gays, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students at Western.

The scholarship was established this year when the Mukti Fund, a small foundation that Dupuis helped start, chose to recognize its trustees with a scholarship for an institution of their choice. The foundation wanted to memorialize Dupuis' 25 years of volunteer service with the foundation. Dupuis has been a trustee for 25 years and chose Western because it has helped him flourish as a person and a professional.

"This is a way to give back to the university which has given me so much ... both professionally and personally," Dupuis said.

Katie Watt, junior special education major, applied for the award and is glad that Western finally has an award for the lesbian and gay community on campus.

"Historically the scholarship is great because there are so few scholarships for (the) lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community," Watt said.

Dupuis looked at what groups he wanted to help and decided on helping the GLBT community because it has not had as much access to educational scholarships in the past and has been discriminated. He also has an award scholarship named after him for minorities.

"They have faced discrimination in the past because of their sexual orientation, and this award is an opportunity to give to those who haven't been treated as fairly in society, or have not had as much access to educational opportunities in the past," Dupuis said.

As a student, Watt said she understands that discrimination.

"It's different to get a scholarship if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender," Watt said.

For Dupuis the gay and lesbian community is something that is important to him.

"My work with the University Committee on Sexual Orientation with the Affirmative Action Office got me inspired to help out gay and lesbian students, it was important for me to give back to Western as well as the gay and lesbian community. That was very rewarding," Dupuis said.

Dupuis added that he has seen the things that the gay and lesbian community has done around campus and is impressed with it.

"I've been very impressed with the BGLFA and Unity and their activities. A lot those students don't have the opportunities to get recognized by traditional scholarships or awards, partly because of discrimination and partly because of lack of opportunities. This was my chance to recognize all the great things those students do in campus. And it was very much an honor for me to facilitate that," Dupuis said.

Watt, who works with Unity, also is impressed with Dupuis.

"He has done so much for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students at WIU," Watt said.

This is the first year the scholarship was started at Western and the student has been picked and will be announced in April for GLBT Awareness week, April 1 through 8.

Students who are eligible have to apply in the junior year and are asked to submit a short essay along with two letters of recommendation. The students demonstrated outstanding leadership in the gay community on campus. According to Dupuis, the recipient of the award receives $1,750 used toward tuition or books.

"We looked for leaders all over the campus; we tried to be flexible, but the idea is to recognize a student who identifies as gay or lesbian and has demonstrated great leadership skills for the award," Dupuis said.

Another organization that awards lesbians and gays across the country is the Point Foundation, which is the first and only organization of its kind. The Point Foundation is a nationwide lesbian and gay scholarship organization that focuses on granting assistance to undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students. Recipients are chosen for their demonstrated leadership, scholastic achievement, extracurricular activities and involvement in the GLBT community.

"It is such an honor to create the first award for lesbians and gays, and hopefully other funding opportunities will arise," Dupuis said.