Pepperdine Student Climate-- lgbt friendly? Forum

[nubaroque]

Can anyone comment on the social climate at Pepperdine? I am a gay potential law student and really would not enjoy three years of studying at an institution that isn't accepting of lgbtq folks. I realize Pepperdine is a Christian school, but I have read several reports that state that the school is fairly liberal for being a religious private school (kind of has to be due to its location, I guess). I was just wondering if any current students or other prospective students have any information about this. I am not very openly gay to acquaintances, but I'm not ashamed and won't lie about it to anyone who asks...I just don't want to sign onto spending three years at a school where I'll potentially be ostracized.

[mr. wednesday]

You might want to be more concerned about the less than a coin flip chance at even becoming a lawyer: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

But you could go to almost any other school in CA besides Pepperdine and have it be more tolerant. Save yourself the trouble and go to a school that 1) gives you a realistic shot of ever using your degree and 2) isn't affiliated with a religion that is largely intolerant of you.

[nubaroque]

It's not the religion that's intolerant, it's the people. And this isn't the place for that discussion.

[20141023]

.

[bjsesq]

what do you think has propagated anti-gay sentiment throughout society for hundreds of years if not religion?

Midgets, as a means of deflection from us noticing their NWO-esque plans.

[TheSpanishMain]

I don't know about Pepperdine specifically, but I've heard LGBT folks say that they never got any flak at Notre Dame and GULC, both of which are Catholic schools. Simply going "religious" = "hates gays" is pretty silly, IMO. Georgetown has an officially sanctioned LBGT student association.

Anyway, this is a bit of a derail. Suffice to say that even if Pepperdine is super LGBT friendly, you should probably look elsewhere just to give yourself a better chance of employment.

[mr. wednesday]

From their policies:

SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS
In keeping with Pepperdine University’s Christian mission and its heritage in Churches of Christ, all members of the University community are encouraged to consider and respect the teachings of Jesus and historic, biblical Christianity. Pepperdine University affirms that sexual relationships are designed by God to be expressed solely within a marriage between husband and wife. This view of sexuality and marriage is rooted in the Genesis account of creation and is maintained consistently throughout Scripture. Sexual relations of any kind outside of marriage are inconsistent with the teaching of Scripture, as understood by Christian churches throughout history, including Churches of Christ. Therefore, as a matter of moral and faith witness, all members of the University are expected to avoid such conduct themselves and to respect this understanding of sexual relationships.

Sexual Relationships
Out of concern for the health and safety of members of the university community, and to uphold the moral character of the educational environment, students are expected to make decisions regarding their sexual relationships consistent with the university's Christian philosophy.

The School of Law does not discriminate against any person on the basis of any sexual orientation which such person may have. However, sexual conduct outside of marriage is inconsistent with the school's religious traditions and values. Therefore, as a matter of moral and faith witness, the faculty, staff, and students of the School of Law are expected to avoid such conduct themselves and the encouraging of it in others.

So there you go. You won't be discriminated against, they promise.

[TheSpanishMain]

From their policies:

Pepperdine may be intolerant, sure. I just don't think you should extrapolate from there to "any institution affiliated with a religion hates gays".

This actually surprised me. I thought Pepperdine was a Catholic Jesuit school, and Jesuits tend to be on the more liberal end.

[Lord Randolph McDuff]

You might want to be more concerned about the less than a coin flip chance at even becoming a lawyer: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

This is incorrect. Factoring in the culture of the student body at Pepperdine, i.e., the diverse goals or lack of goals within the class, the chances of a TLS poster "becoming a lawyer" from Pepperdine is better than a coinflip.

Probably much better, but I don't know Pepperdine that well.

[BigZuck]

You might want to be more concerned about the less than a coin flip chance at even becoming a lawyer: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

This is incorrect. Factoring in the culture of the student body at Pepperdine, i.e., the diverse goals or lack of goals within the class, the chances of a TLS poster "becoming a lawyer" from Pepperdine is better than a coinflip.

Probably much better, but I don't know Pepperdine that well.

wut

[A. Nony Mouse]

From their policies:

Pepperdine may be intolerant, sure. I just don't think you should extrapolate from there to "any institution affiliated with a religion hates gays".

This actually surprised me. I thought Pepperdine was a Catholic Jesuit school, and Jesuits tend to be on the more liberal end.

No no no no - not Catholic. Churches of Christ.

[nebula666]

It's not the religion that's intolerant, it's the people. And this isn't the place for that discussion.

[rickgrimes69]

You might want to be more concerned about the less than a coin flip chance at even becoming a lawyer: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school= ... show=chars

This is incorrect. Factoring in the culture of the student body at Pepperdine, i.e., the diverse goals or lack of goals within the class, the chances of a TLS poster "becoming a lawyer" from Pepperdine is better than a coinflip.

Probably much better, but I don't know Pepperdine that well.

oh boy here we go again

[AT9]

I'm betting the student body at Peoperdine is more conservative than the average law school student body, but I would also bet that most of them won't really care much about you being gay, especially if you're not going around broadcasting it. Liberty and Regent are the only schools I can think of where the students would probably be more blatantly unaccepting, mostly because those schools have a fairly obvious political agenda.

[20141023]

.

[TheSpanishMain]

Bah. The OP said "it's not the religion that's intolerant, it's the people." However, in reality, religious (Christian) doctrines are intolerant, but there are good people who are members of discriminatory religions that choose to accept others despite what their religions preach. In particular, the Old Testament is full of anti-gay sentiment (see my post above for just one example), but many people like to pretend that these doctrines in their "Word-of-God" book can be overlooked because they are Mosaic Law; unfortunately, this doesn't change the fact that the book that their religion is founded upon states things like gays should be put to death.

Sure, but you can find a quote in the Bible/Torah/Qur'an to support virtually anything, including bizarre dietary restrictions that most modern, non-nutjob adherents would agree come from a specific culture context that can be safely ignored. I doubt you'd argue that eating/not eating shellfish is a foundational part of Christianity, regardless of your opinion of the system as a whole.

Christian (and Jewish, and Muslim) theology develops over centuries, and people have reasonable disagreements about what is/is not a core part of the overall belief and what is an antiquated cultural artifact. Point is, Christianity may contain condemnations of homosexuality, but I'd argue that's not what it's about. I'm sure Pat Robertson would argue I'm being a "cafeteria Christian" or whatever, and just picking out bits and pieces I like, but A) so does everyone with any religion/philosophy, B) it's really easy to miss the forest for the trees when you're talking about something as broad and multifaceted as a centuries old religion and C) fuck Pat Robertson. Shit, head south from Pepperdine to University of San Diego Law, which is a Catholic school and has an LGBT student organization.*

Anyway, I don't mean to derail here. OP, I don't know shit about Pepperdine (other than it's a mediocre law school) but my guess is no one would overtly hassle you but you might not find a lot of institutional support in terms of things like LGBT student organizations and the like.

*For the record, I'm not arguing you should attend USD Law, not because it's religious and OP is gay, but because it's expensive and doesn't place well.

[03152016]

.

[PalmBay]

Doubt it's enforced at all.

[20141023]

.

[BigZuck]

Doubt it's enforced at all.

If you get caught having unmarried sex in the dorms on campus you probably will get in trouble. I know people who went to grad school at Pepperdine and they had to sign something saying they wouldn't have unmarried sex or drink in the dorms on campus.

[03152016]

.

[Serett]

Even if it's not enforced, I can't fully come to terms with why someone very strongly opposed to Pepperdine's social policies would want to become affiliated with the school, so long as there are better or comparable options more worthy of mutual gain. I still have a beef with Georgetown over the birth control spat, and Georgetown is much more worthy of swallowing that bitter pill (pun intended) to attend than Pepperdine. Just logically without knowing much in particular about Pepperdine, I'd bet my checking account that the answer to whether or not it's LGBT friendly is:

1. The students have largely no problem accepting LGBT people.
2. The professors have largely no problem accepting LGBT people.
3. The administration/university as a whole will straddle the public image line by trumpeting its ties to social conservative values in the most politically correct way possible while promising that it does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

[Crowing]

Doubt it's enforced at all.

If you get caught having unmarried sex in the dorms on campus you probably will get in trouble. I know people who went to grad school at Pepperdine and they had to sign something saying they wouldn't have unmarried sex or drink in the dorms on campus.

Not sure about Pepperdine, but BYU's code is definitely enforced.

[jbagelboy]

Don't go to Pepperdine for lots of reasons.

[20141023]

.