The Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student Alliance -- due to what they call the "failure" of the University administration to educate themselves and the community on homophobia and heterosexism -- is planning a program aimed at implementing a new staff position and an office to address the needs of the lesbian, gay and bisexual community.

At a press conference yesterday, LGBSA political co-directors Holly Bemiss and Mark Shiner said the new program, called Project TEACH!, will publicize what they consider the administration's failure to meet the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual students, faculty and staff.

TEACH! stands for Try Education to Abolish Campus Homophobia.

Bemiss and Shiner said LGBSA members saw a need for action when they said the administration did not follow up on recommendations made by the Vice Provost's Committee for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Equity.

Deputy Provost Terrell Jones said some of the equity committee's suggestions, such as a proposal to train faculty to revise courses and develop new ones that correspond to the diversity requirement, have been implemented.

Other requests such as a resource directory for lesbian, gay and bisexual people and research on how information is made available to them are currently being worked on, Jones said.

The committee recommended the creation of a full-time staff position by August 1994. The staff member would address the specific needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual community members.

The committee also recommended that an "Office of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Concerns" be created by August 1995.

Shiner said these suggestions were first made in January 1993. But University President Joab Thomas later refused to implement them, according to an LGBSA press release. Thomas was unavailable for comment.

James Stewart, vice provost for educational equity, said the requests for the new staff position and office were denied because they were made during the University's hiring freeze in 1993.

Also, the University did not want to create an office for every underrepresented group, Stewart added. Instead, staff members at the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity should meet the different needs, he said.

But Bemiss and Shiner said the University is not meeting those needs. They said Project TEACH! will be a long-term effort with three goals:

-- To press the University to "do its job: TEACH!"

-- To shift the burden of educating from student organizations to the administration.

-- To provide for the needs and demands of students, faculty and staff.

The first of three phases of Project TEACH! now in effect is a freeze on all LGBSA-coordinated homophobia and heterosexism programs -- unless they are first coordinated by the University's educational equity office, Bemiss and Shiner said.

This phase also means that the group will no longer conduct Straight Talks, an educational program it has offered to University classes and groups since 1984.

Bemiss added that LGBSA has provided a lot of the education on homophobia and heterosexism at the University.

But Stewart said not all education for the University community was offered by LGBSA. The Office of Student Services conducts educational programs for dorms, and the Office of Human Resources trains faculty and staff on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues, Stewart said.

William Asbury, vice president of student services, said he received a press release about Project TEACH!, but was not prepared to comment.

LGBSA also wants the University to create a homophobia and heterosexism peer education program and an educational video -- similiar to one instituted at Rutgers University -- which will be distributed at Commonwealth Campuses and places where it is not possible to hold Straight Talk programs, Shiner said.

Members are asking for written responses from Stewart and Thomas. In addition, Thomas has been invited to an LGBSA meeting on March 14 to respond to these appeals, Shiner said. Thomas received the materials, but did not comment.

Jones said he thinks LGBSA's job is to provide general presentations on these issues because there are certain programs only the group can do.

But the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has an office called the Program for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns, which provides educational programs for the university community.

Paul Prosseda (senior-human development and family studies), who is interning with that office, said U Mass has one staff person and four graduate students who coordinate different programs. One of the graduate students coordinates programs like Penn State's Straight Talks called the Speaker's Bureau, he added. The program also trains undergraduate students to institute the program instead ofundergraduate students training each other as they do at Penn State, Prosseda said.

Jones said LGBSA wants to be a resource for information on lesbian, gay and bisexual issues. But "it makes perfect sense" to try to balance LGBSA resources with regular University programs, he said.

LGBSA adviser Tony D'Augelli said the organization should not be responsible for educating and counseling the whole community. This jeopardizes the academic work of the organization's members when they forgo classes to conduct programs, he added.

Project TEACH! confronts the University's failure to fully implement its commitment to lesbian, gay and bisexual issues, D'Augelli said.