By Ari Ebert-Standard and Alyssa Allemand
Edgewood College opened the Queer Student Center this semester, located in Predolin 208. The center is a partnership between the Office of Student Inclusion and Involvement and the Women’s and Gender Studies program.
Executive Director of Diversity Tony Garcia said this space exists “because of over a decade of students, faculty and staff advocating for a center… on campus.” In Garcia’s nine years at the college, he said there have been at least three proposals drafted for an LGBTQ+ campus space.
In Fall 2018, Garcia met with then-President Scott Flanagan about submitting another proposal. After gaining support from the president, Garcia formed a committee to put together a formal space proposal.
The original proposed room for the Queer Student Center was Predolin 214, “but the Predolin 208 suite was available … and checked all the boxes and desires,” Garcia said.
Along with the opening of the center comes the revival of SAFE, Edgewood’s student organization for LGBTQ+ students and allies.
SAFE President Sean O’Brien said the Queer Student Center “is all about you feeling safe and you being able to be who you are and love who you are no matter what.”
The center will be used for SAFE meetings as well as campus events, such as panels from local politicians and business owners who identify as LGBTQ+, O’Brien said.
History of the Queer Student Center
Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of WGS Lisa King said that when she came to Edgewood College in 2006, the Women’s and Gender Studies program had a designated office. The office also served as an “unofficial hang out space” for LGBTQ+ students.
When the WGS office went away in Spring 2008, those students lost that space.
Since then, King said, “every year, somebody would bring up, ‘Hey, we need a space for the queer students.’”
The formal space proposal says that initiatives for an LGBTQ+ center on campus have been proposed since fall of 2011. “Over the years, solutions have been presented, but the space(s) offered were not deemed adequate, or appropriate, by student leaders and faculty/staff that would primarily use the space,” it says.
Garcia said he drafted a proposal for an LGBTQ+ campus space in 2015 that was sent to Edgewood’s administration.
“When it came to that institutional level, it came to the attention of the president,” King said. “It takes years to work out the details.”
According to the proposal, in a President’s Cabinet meeting during Fall 2018, a center for LGBTQ+ individuals was “identified as an acute space need” to be addressed by June 2019. Other sources of support were campus climate surveys, student testimonies, and efforts by faculty, staff and student organizations throughout the years.
According to Garcia, the formal space proposal was presented to the Diversity Leadership council, Space Advisory Committee, and the President’s Cabinet “for formal endorsement and approval.”
On April 17, 2019, Flanagan “voiced support to dedicate” a place on campus to LGBTQ+ individuals.
Beginning in May 2019, Student Development and WGS met to discuss how their partnership could most effectively support students who identify as LGBTQ+.
Shaunda Brown-Rivera, director of student inclusion and involvement, carried the rest of the work through Summer 2019 to prepare the space for this fall semester.
Challenges
The two biggest challenges for occupying an LGBTQ+ center were limited campus space and the Catholic heritage of the college.
Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of WGS Cabell Gathman said, “Space has always been at a premium here.”
A significant amount of research was put into seeing how Edgewood’s peer Catholic colleges support their LGBTQ+ communities.
The formal space proposal says, “The tension between the Catholic Church and members of the LGBTQ community exists – we cannot ignore this – but our pursuit and respect for multiple truths gives us permission to lean into our commitment to marginalized communities.”
Currently, the Queer Student Center is operating entirely on donations and its Amazon Wishlist, as it has not received a budget from the college. All decorations, resources, and supplies in the center have been provided by the Wishlist, the OSII budget, and donations.
Significance of the space
Garcia said that proposing and securing the Queer Student Center is one of his “proudest accomplishments” in his time at Edgewood College.
SAFE Vice President Rae Howe, who is a member of the Queer Student Center’s design subcommittee and serves as a student representative for the center’s overall committee, said it is “important that students have a space to be unapologetically and explicitly queer on campus.
“This is such a special and important place to bring the community together in solidarity, as well as a place for activism and the sharing of knowledge.”
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