In the years to come, Penn State could have an academic minor in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies and benefits available to the partners of LGBT faculty and staff.

These goals and others were discussed at last night's LGBT town meeting. There were also updates on recent community developments, such as the newly formed Zero Tolerance for Hate Support Network and the four-month-old LGBTA Student Resource Center.

Vince Lankewich, who is working with a committee to create the LGBT minor, said the initial curriculum would be made up of courses that already exist.

A survey was recently sent to faculty members asking what courses they currently teach which contain LGBT content, he said. When the results come back, he will able to compile a list of preliminary courses for the proposed minor.

Lankewich said the university should create the minor to keep up with other Big Ten universities who have already done so.

In the future, he said he hopes to work with other departments, such as women's studies.

Making LGBT issues a legitimate scholarly course of study within the university could help the success of LGBT activism on campus, Lankewich said.

One of the questions for organizers right now is whether to call the minor LGBT studies or gender and sexuality studies, he said.

Tramble Turner, Commission on LGBT Equity Chair, talked about the partner benefits initiative, which would give LGBT faculty and staff and their partners the same benefits as married couples.

Those benefits would include everything from health insurance to tuition breaks to death benefits, Turner explained.

Turner said the commission has been trying to meet with the university administration regularly to push partner benefits. They are trying to keep administrators updated on the actions of universities across the country, he said.

"Clearly we're looking at a nation-wide context," Turner said.

He said the administration continues to consider partner benefits. "We know that there's an ongoing examination of it," Turner said.

Terrell Jones, vice provost for educational equity reported updates from the newly formed Zero Tolerance for Hate Support Network.

According to www.tolerance.org, only about 16 percent of incidents of hate are reported.

"We're just hitting the tip of the iceberg," Jones said.

Of the 32 incidents reported to the network, 18 percent were due to sexuality. The majority of victims were freshman and sophomores, Jones said.

Most of those were women, but those men who did report incidents were mostly targeted because of known or perceived sexual identity, he said.

Allison Subasic, LGBTA Student Resource Center director, talked about how the new center is continuing to grow.

She said a major goal is to reach out to the Penn State community. She is currently working to initiate joint projects with the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, as well as greek organizations.

"We've focused a lot on outreach throughout the campuses," Subasic said. "Visibility is a big part of what we're doing."