Students at Kent State University in Ohio will have the option of minoring in gay and lesbian studies this fall.

The new minor is part of the College of Arts and Science’s Retention to Kent State, or R2K plan, said Gertrude Steuernagel, a Kent State political science professor.

“One of the attempts of R2K is developing a curriculum that identifies with the needs of our students,” she said.

Kent State has one of the more than 75 gay and lesbian studies departments at colleges and universities around the country, according to a University of Illinois-Chicago Web site.

Minority studies are a hot topic for Northwestern students and faculty, but gay and lesbian studies still have not come to the foreground.

Weinberg junior Tim Tasker, a member of NU’s Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance, thinks that a gay and lesbian studies program is in the distant future at NU.

Tasker said that BGALA would need help bringing a gay and lesbian studies program to campus and has not made the effort a priority.

“We definitely need an office of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) with a paid staff,” Tasker said. “There is not enough time in the day for BGALA.”

BGALA is NU’s education and outreach program that supports people who have questions about gay and lesbian issues.

Some NU students interested in gay and lesbian studies had some of their curiosity quelled this quarter with American Gay and Lesbian History, which is taught by history Prof. Lane Fenrich, who is teaching the class for the second consecutive year.

He took over for Associate Weinberg Dean Michael Sherry, who started teaching the class in 1986.

“We should always try to respond to student interest,” Fenrich said.

Tasker took the class last year and said he found it interesting to see gay and lesbian issues approached in an academic setting.

Medill junior Daniel Richards said the class gives him a greater understanding of such issues.

“I thought it would give me a different perspective, and I have definitely learned things I hadn’t known before,” Richards said.

Weinberg junior Lara Krigel took the class last year as part of her interest in minority groups.

“I have a general interest in minority groups in America,” Krigel said. “I think it’s fascinating just how people categorize in America.”