VanDenBossche encourages joining diverse groups.

The Vanderbilt Lambda Association, the gay-straight alliance on campus, has elected a straight president, Kristen VanDenBossche, for the first time in its history.

VanDenBossche said that Lambda will undergo several changes this semester, but while she proposed many of these modifications, she said that her election had more to do with the passion she exhibited for the organization.

"The main reason I got the nomination and the award of the presidency is that there was a lack of energy in the organization,” she said. “I had a pretty big excitement for what the organization can be, and I had a lot of ideas on how to increase membership and bring quality programming.”

Since 40 to 50 percent of the 75 undergraduates involved in the organization is composed of straight allies, VanDenBossche’s sexuality does not alienate her from the group by any means.

However, she said that her election shows that there are open-minded people on this campus.

“If they’re willing to elect someone like me and put the responsibility for representing their organization on campus in the hands of someone who is not gay, it really shows that the community is accepting,” she said.

VanDenBossche extends that characterization to the entire campus, saying that, for a university with such a negative reputation, Vanderbilt’s diversity is “really not that bad.”

“I think we have diversity on paper beautifully,” she said. “I think that’s a huge goal of any major university.”

As for diversity in practice, VanDenBossche said, “It’s not as bad as some people make it seem, but it’s not as good as it could be.”

“We have lots of diversity awareness organizations on this campus, and there are hundreds of people involved in them.”

However, VanDenBossche said that she does see the need to promote interaction between the various diversity awareness groups on campus and considers the Multicultural Leadership Council the first step toward achieving that.

“If there is resolve on the part of the leaders to get together and collaborate, that mentality will trickle down so that our individual members associate with each other,” she said. “At that point, we’re not necessarily a minority anymore. Maybe we’re a majority.”

VanDenBossche said she was encouraged that Vanderbilt students are starting to cross more boundaries in their organizational associations than they were before.

“More and more students are starting to join organizations that they weren’t born into,” she said. “It’s almost like a social movement on campus of people stepping out and saying, ‘Hey, I can be a part of this organization even if the color of my skin or sexual orientation wouldn’t automatically put me in that group.’”

As president of Lambda, VanDenBossche said she feels a personal responsibility to promote diversity on campus.

"I think that as one of the bigger diversity awareness groups on campus, our responsibility is not just to promote diversity; it’s to be at the forefront of diversity awareness on this campus,” she said. “That means an involvement in the Multicultural Leadership Council and a commitment to work with leaders of all diversity awareness groups to combine programming and create connections. It’s our job to promote all diversity awareness organizations, not just GLBT organizations.”

VanDenBossche encouraged students who are not currently involved in a diversity awareness organization to explore every opportunity and every type of group before deciding to join one.

“Look through these groups of people, get to know the leadership, pick one and get involved,” she said. “Go for where you think you can get to the top and make some changes. The only way things are going to change around here is if you take a proactive stance.”

Lambda will hold its first organizational meeting on Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. in the GLBT house behind Branscomb.