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Truman State adds to non-discrimination policy

The campus at Truman State.
Ian Monroe
/
Flickr
The campus at Truman State.

The Truman State Board of Governors voted to add sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policy on Saturday.

Warren Wells, the general counsel for the University, prepared the proposal for the board. He says the change comes after a several-month-long discussion.

“There has been student interest in it, and there has also been some faculty interest in it. And it was the same situation that they came forward and said that we want sexual orientation to be a protected class named in your policies,” Wells says.

Wells says the former non-discrimination policy already covered sexual orientation, but some student groups thought it wasn’t clear enough. So the Board of Governors specified sexual orientation and made the wording easier to understand.

Andrew Shaughnessy is a Regional Field organizer for PROMO, Missouri’s statewide advocacy group for the LGBT community. He says he is excited about the Truman State University vote and that it’s a meaningful win.

These local wins is just another call to Jefferson City and to the region that we do need these protections and there are LGBT people that live not only live in our urban course but in rural Missouri. And they need to be protected,” Shaughnessy says.

The policy change passed with a 6-1 vote.

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