Impact

Penn State policies welcome LGBT-owned businesses and oppose discrimination

Penn State is an increasingly friendly place for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community to work, as the University launches a new initiative to support vendors and encourage LGBT-owned businesses to work with Penn State.

University leaders have approved the addition of two new provisions to the standard terms and conditions for vendors to conduct business at Penn State.

  • Vendors will not discriminate against their own employees or in their own hiring.
  • Vendors will comply with Penn State’s AD85 policy on discrimination through their conduct while on campus and in their interaction with the University community.
  • Penn State will reach out directly to LGBT-owned businesses and promote opportunities through the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

“This is about broader implementation of Penn State’s principles of inclusion of gender, gender and sexual orientation and gender expression,” said David Gray, senior vice president for Finance & Business/Treasurer. “We are holding ourselves to a higher standard and believe we need to hold vendors we deal with to those same standards.”

The new stipulations are the result of recommendations made by Penn State’s Vendor Equity Task Force (VETF). Assembled in 2014 to review the University’s purchasing and contracting to ensure they upheld the University’s principles of social equity, the task force also had a goal of growing the number of suppliers and promoting more opportunities for businesses owned by under-represented populations.

The VETF began by reviewing policies and procedures used in Penn State’s Department of Purchasing Services, the University’s central purchasing unit. Responsible for approximately 45 percent of the University’s total spending, it is the largest of the University’s different purchasing units. However, the intention is for the recommendations to be adapted to other purchasing divisions within the University as well.

Under the new provision for non-discrimination, contractors will have to agree at a minimum that, during the performance of their contract, they “will not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.”

The first provision ensures that Penn State contracts with vendors who uphold principles of non-discrimination in their own employment practices and the second serves as an important reminder of both mandatory compliance with the University’s non-discrimination policy (AD85) and general expectations of good conduct in the University environment. Specific language related to social responsibility requires “the highest standards of integrity, responsibility and respect.” Further language specifies that “conduct constituting harassment or discrimination in the University environment…is subject to corrective action.”

“A critical part of our success with these new provisions will be to give vendors early notice of these new requirements and expectations,” said Joyce Haney, director of procurement services in the department of purchasing services. “We will be adding this language to our website, requests for quotes, requests for proposals and in the invitations sent to vendors who will be visiting campus to present proposals.”

In addition to the two new provisions, Penn State also will begin to look internally at its own efforts to further enhance its supplier and contractor diversity efforts. Purchasing currently engages in outreach efforts to grow the number of suppliers and promote opportunities for businesses owned by minorities, women, veterans and service-disabled veterans, as well as businesses in the federal Historically Underutilized Business Zones program. This enhanced effort will now include LGBT-owned businesses. Precedent for doing so comes largely from the efforts of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (“NGLCC”), a nationwide advocacy group that has led the movement to include LGBT-owned businesses within supplier diversity efforts. 

Purchasing currently collects data on the use of vendors in various business classifications by asking vendors to fill out a Supplier Application Form, which provides businesses the opportunity to select as many designations as are relevant to their business enterprise. “LGBT-Owned Enterprise (LGBTE)” will now be part of this voluntary list. Purchasing also will update Penn State’s Supplier and Contractor Diversity Programs websites to include LGBT outreach in its mission statement, program qualifications and certification pages.

“These new efforts speak volumes about where Penn State is placing its priorities,” said Gray. “There will not be a sea change overnight, but we will continue to track this initiative, reach out to areas where we know there are LGBT businesses.”

“We want to send a clear message that we treat everyone in our community with respect. We are proud of our work in this area, and we look forward to this initiative gaining momentum and changing our collective conscience and behavior.”

The recommendations of the VETF have been endorsed by President’s Council, Ethics and Compliance Council and Penn State’s Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equity (CLGBTE).

Contact: Alex Novak

Last Updated December 29, 2015

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