Jackson Free Press

Sept. 16, 2011

Andrew Stankevich tried to start a group for gay students at Mississippi College School of Law, but administrators told him they were morally opposed to the idea. Stankevich said he has the letter that they sent him.

"And the school also doesn't have an anti-harassment policy," Stankevich told the Jackson Free Press. While that isn't specifically an anti-gay stance, third-year law student Stankevich said it doesn't help gay students who get harassed.

GetEQUAL Mississippi will stage a news conference at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at the south side of the Mississippi State Capitol, near the intersection of Mississippi and North Congress streets. The event is part of coordinated national actions across the country.

Stankevich, 34, will call for the American Bar Association to change its accreditation standards for law schools and end Christian law schools discriminating against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

"The ABA allows Christian law schools to have anti-gay policies, as long as such schools give notice of these policies before students 'affiliate' with the law school, and the policies do not contravene any other accreditation standard," Stankevich said.

He said he felt misled into enrolling into Mississippi College School of Law without notice of the school's anti-gay policies. On Sept. 1, 2010, the ABA opened an investigation into Stankevich's allegations that MC Law did not comply with the ABA's accreditation standards. On March 8, 2011, the ABA concluded its investigation and confirmed that MC Law failed to notify Stankevich of its anti-gay policies prior to his enrollment. On Aug. 12, 2011, Stankevich filed another complaint with the ABA alleging that the ongoing harassment he experiences denies him reasonably equal access to educational opportunities.

Before coming to Mississippi in 2009 to start law school, Stankevich lived in New York State. He grew up in Virginia, then attended State University of New York and graduated in 2001 with a degree in human services. He established and managed Rochester Friends in Rochester, N.Y., a nonprofit agency that helped redistribute perishable food items that a local food bank had an awkward time getting to the right people in need. The nonprofit also took surplus bicycles and got them to people in need, as well as teaching kids how to repair bikes.

Stankevich also spent six months as a Pedicab driver in New York City. It was a fun job, he said, that he took after his broken ankle healed. He needed physical therapy, and thought the job could combine that with some income. "I lost weight, but I've gained it back."

He said he hasn't decided yet what type of law he will practice when he graduates, but that he wants to work where he can do the most good.