March Newsletter

The IU LGBTQ+ Alumni Association hosted its 12th annual Celebration Weekend February 28th and 29th. On Friday, February 28th at the IU Tudor Room four individuals were recognized for their outstanding accomplishments of bettering the queer community at Indiana University and beyond. The Student Spirit Award recipient was presented to Tom Sweeney (profile below); the Faculty/Staff Spirit Award recipient was awarded to Stafford C. Berry, Jr., Professor of Practice, Theatre, Drama & Contemporary Dance and Director of the African American Dance Company; the Department Spirit Award recipient was the Center for Sexual Health Promotion; and the Distinguished Alumni Award recipient was James D. Fielding. On Saturday, February 29th at the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts the Silent Auction was held raising over $10,700, surpassing the 2020 goal to support LGBTQ+ student scholarships and programming. Thank you to everybody who attended 2020 Celebration Weekend, donated items and funds, won bids, and volunteered their time and skills to making this such a successful event! Our group is grateful for your generosity!

After months of planning and deliberation, the ground-breaking Queer Philanthropy Circle (QPC) was recently launched at IU. The QPC is a philanthropic group with a strong partnership with both the Office of Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Multicultural Affairs and the IU Foundation (IUF). The QPC has brought together volunteer alumni and others to enhance engagement and philanthropy at IU regarding LGBTQ+ students, faculty, staff, alumni and allies. Among other things, the QPC is committed to improving the recruitment, retention, and support of LGBTQ+ students by promoting policies, initiatives, programs, scholarships, grants, education, research, and career opportunities.

Currently, the QPC has 29 founding, voting members and three ex officio, nonvoting members. Already, there are exciting developments. First, an anonymous donor has made a $200,000 pledge to match contributions to the QPC by June 30, 2020. Read the press release below. Approximately $90,000 has been raised so far under this generous matching pledge.

Additionally, the QPC just announced that it will support IU LGBTQ+ student scholarships by contributing $150,000 to the LGBTQ+ Alumni Association Student Scholarship Program. The contribution is made in honor of Doug Bauder and Mike Shumate. Since 2005, a total of 129 scholarships (79 academic and 50 emergency) has been awarded under the Scholarship Program to IU students on all of IU's campuses.

As university vice president, James Wimbush has warmly welcomed the QPC's mission, "Philanthropy provides opportunities. It offers hope and confidence through a shared commitment to influence the future. Indiana University believes in the power of possibility -and what can happen when we work together to make a difference for students, faculty, and staff, and particularly those who are marginalized or face obstacles. Together, our voice is indeed bigger, better, and stronger." Dan Smith, President and CEO of the IUF, has also welcomed the group, "Diversity and equality have long been the bedrock of IU's educational mission, and LGBTQ+ philanthropy has become an important part of the IU Foundation's fundraising mission. We proudly establish the QPC and embrace LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff as full members of the IU family."

For more information about the QPC, please contact Jessica Wootten, Associate Director, LGBTQ+ Philanthropy at the IUF, at jwootten@iu.edu.

Tom Sweeney, a senior at IU-Bloomington, has been awarded the 2020 Marshall Scholarship to pursue graduate study in the United Kingdom. Sweeney is one of 46 recipients of the scholarship this year. He was also a finalist for the 2020 Rhodes Scholarship and was awarded the 2020 Student Spirit Award at the IU LGBTQ+ Alumni Association's Celebration Weekend on February 28.

Sweeney is a senior pursuing three bachelor's degrees at IU in economics, philosophy, and math and statistics. Sweeney was recruited to come to IU as a recipient of the Herman B. Wells Scholarship. During his tenure at IUB, he has been an impactful leader of the LGBTQ+ community. He co-founded and served as the coordinator for the LGBTQ+ Freshman Mentorship Program; co-hosted "The Gayggle," an LGBTQ+ talk show on WIUX student radio for three years; wrote columns on LGBTQ+ topics for the Indiana Daily Student; and helped found the Queer Student Union at IUB (a new general-purpose LGBTQ+ organization inspired by the former Out at IU and the LGBTQ+ Society at Oxford University, where Sweeney studied for a year as a visiting student.)

Among his many other accomplishments, Sweeney has also served as president of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education's Student Advisory Board and as president of "Culture of Care," a student organization that provides campus-wide programming on issues relating to sexual health and wellbeing, mental health, drug and alcohol awareness, and discrimination. During the last two summers he served as a research intern for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, where he analyzed wealth inequity and the widening wealth gaps along divisions of race, education level, and generation. He is currently the treasurer of the IU Student Government and opinion editor for the IDS.

Sweeney joins only 17 other students from IU to have received this award. He is the first Marshall Scholar from IU since 2012. Over the next two years, Sweeney plans to use the scholarship to study econometrics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he will work with top researchers in the field and specialize in aspects economic inequality.