Newly elected Lesbian and Gay Student Alliance officers say special interest committees, increased activism and more networking with other minority groups is needed to insure unity within next year's group.

Lora Nace and Michael LaFlam were elected Monday night as political co-directors, and Alnisa Allgood and Jeff Kemp were elected as the group's social and educational co-directors. Transitions for new officers started Tuesday and will be completed the last day of classes. The treasurer position is still vacant.

If expanding last semester's restructuring does not allow for more involvement by women, Nace said it might become necessary to split along gender lines and form a steering committee with representatives from each organization.

"I hope it doesn't come to that," she said.

As a response to complaints made by several members last spring, LGSA restructured the following semester to encourage more participation by women. The group disbanded its traditional hierarchical structure and divided the group into two divisions -- one social and educational, the other political. Each division now has two co-directors.

Women in LGSA sometimes think the group's activities center too much on issues that affect gay men more than lesbians and often overlook women's issues, she said.

While LaFlam said it would be unfortunate if women in the group decide to split into a separate organization, he said he would support their decision.

All four newly elected officers said creating committees to work on individual issues and projects will help increase involvement in the organization.

Kemp said he hopes restructuring the membership and delegating more work to members will include the majority of LGSA in its decisions.

A variety of committees working on various issues and activities will allow members to get involved with things that interest them, Kemp said.

The newly elected officers said they hope to network with other minority groups to work on common issues next year.

"When there's no really big issue, it's hard to remember that all minority issues are interrelated," Nace said.

"We've been kind of stratified and separated," LaFlam said of the University minority community.

Because the majority of LGSA members are white men, a tendency exists to overlook issues that concern minorities outside of the gay community, Nace said.

Since lesbians and gay men cross many racial and religious boundaries, LGSA has the opportunity to get involved in many issues affecting various groups on campus, but this has been overlooked at times, Allgood said.

"The same issues facing other minority groups could face any number of members of the gay and lesbian community," she said.

Allgood said she looks forward to working with the other three co-directors during summer session to revitalize the organization.

LaFlam said one of his goals as co-director will be to encourage more female involvement in the group.

"As gay men and women we are united by the fact that we are gay," LaFlam said. "Anytime a group breaks down we weaken."

LaFlam said he hopes to concentrate the organization's political activities around fighting for a sexual orientation clause in the University's nondiscrimination policy.

Networking with the gay communities of the other Big 10 schools and increasing visibility of the gay issues at the University to the rest of the country will also be priorities, LaFlam said.

Kemp said he also hopes to organize more support programs focusing on education and self-esteem issues for members of the gay community.