Members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally Alliance are looking for a little extra support from the ISU residence hall associations.

The group proposed that each residence hall donate $100 to the LGBTAA foundation to help fund two nationally recognized speakers during Awareness Days 2001.

Jeremy Hayes, president of the Alliance, said the speakers will not be focusing only on homosexual issues, but also diversity and social topics.

“Joe Bertolino and Bil Leipold have been scheduled to speak about student leadership,” he said. “They will also speak to campus administrators about their role in student interactions.”

Bertolino is the associate dean of students at Barnard College, a school in New York City that is affiliated with Columbia University. Leipold is the assistant director of residence life at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey.

“They both have a lot of experience within the university atmosphere,” Hayes said. “They seem to be really experienced in dealing with the situations they’re talking about, so we thought it’d be good to have them here.”

Seamus Murphy, vice president of Stewart House in Linden Hall, said he helped propose the bill to the Richardson Court Association. Although the Alliance already has received about $2,800 in donations for the March event, Murphy said the group hoped they would be able to find more financial help from the students.

“There have been other contributors to the event, so having the residence halls donate $100 per association shouldn’t be a strain on their budget,” said Murphy, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences.

Hayes said the group tried to contact members of the greek system.

“I sent e-mails to all of the greek associations and didn’t get a single reply, so we, in turn, didn’t invite them to get involved,” he said.

Andrew Munsch, president of Schmidt House in Knapp Hall, said the Towers Residence Association passed the bill with a vote of 24-10 after some consideration.

“The two presenters had a hard time with the details of the proposal,” said Munsch, sophomore in construction engineering. “Once they got their act together, their proposal seemed rational.”

Although the bill was supported by some student governments, Andrew Hamilton, vice president of Richey House in Friley Hall, said the Union Drive Association senate did not pass the bill. It failed 17-16.

Dave Wysocki, vice president of Wolf Floor in Larch Hall, said the Richardson Court Association representatives recently had the first reading of the bill and will be voting on it soon.

“My floor didn’t feel that the bill was an adequate representation of our funds,” said Wysocki, junior in animal science. “So, when the vote comes up next week, I will vote no.”