Apparently, institutional changes don’t always bring substantive progress.The Out For Change Campaign of 2007, arranged in response to physical and verbal assaults of members of Georgetown’s LGBTQ community, helped lead to the creation of the LGBTQ Resource Center in 2008. As the [bias-related assaults](https://www.thehoya.com/news/student-assaulted-second-bias-related-incident-week/) of the past week have shown, however, the university’s efforts to make the LGBTQ community feel safer and more welcome on the Hilltop have come up short.Institutional progress at Georgetown seems to have been mirrored by growing support for LGBTQpolitical and social equality across the country. The legalization of same-sex marriage in several states and the recent passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, which expands federal hate-crime law to include discrimination against individuals based on gender, sexual orientation or gender identity, have been indicative of this trend.But the bias-related assaults of the past week force us to question this perceived progress on campus. The fact that these attacks occurred in Washington, D.C. – a progressive metropolitan area, particularly in terms of LGBTQ rights – leads us to reconsider whether or not these broad social advances and the university’s attempts at acceptance have been internalized.It seems we’re back where we started, and it’s a disappointing realization.By establishing the first LGBTQ Resource Center at any Catholic institution in the country, Georgetown demonstrated a commitment to promoting tolerance. In reaction to the recent reported assaults, it has reaffirmed its commitment to making students feel safe and welcomed on campus by actively collaborating with every relevant body, from the Metropolitan Police Department to the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action.The LGBTQ Resource Center and GU Pride have been at ground zero, spreading awareness and helping members of the community cope with the attacks. The rally that was held Sunday and the vigil that took place Monday evening highlight some of these groups’ greatest strengths.At the same time, however, the latest attacks also reveal these groups’ limits. While the LGBTQ Resource Center and GU Pride are integral to awareness and recovery, they are less capable of preventing incidents in the first place. In the same way, top-down initiatives from the university can only do so much to prevent attacks motivated by bias.GU Pride has begun exploring options to keep students safer; at a meeting on Sunday, members discussed offering self-defense classes or establishing a volunteer corps to patrol high-risk areas on weekends. These practical measures may not be strong enough to prevent unanticipated assaults and may not address the problems at the core of these assaults.ore than anything, the recent attacks have been a disappointing wake-up call for us. We can only hope the entire campus community has woken up, too.*To send a letter to the editor on a recent campus issue or Hoya story or a viewpoint on any topic, contact [opinionthehoya.com](opinionthehoya.com). Letters should not exceed 300 words, and viewpoints should be between 600 to 800 words.*”