We, a group of organized students and student workers from the Queer Resource Center, believe that the space allocated for us in the new Student Success Center is not enough to adequately serve the needs of our community. For this reason, we would like to keep our room in Cloud 232 as a dedicated queer community space, even if the QRC itself must move this summer. Our space and the community it fosters are deeply important to the people who utilize our center, and we believe that the school must act to preserve our space, or risk losing some of the benefit that the QRC brings.
The Queer Resource Center would not be the same in a smaller space. The QRC is more than just the material resources and referrals it offers– it is also a community gathering space, which provides support and a unique safe place for queer students. In our space, one student wrote, “For the first time in my college life I felt like I had family or friends I could go to no matter what.”. The current QRC space is large enough to accommodate a variety of uses, such as studying individually or in groups, socializing, working on arts and crafts, and attending the many events we host. In a smaller space, these uses would conflict more with one another. Our center has been a respite for students in difficult situations and a supportive place for many, where they feel free to be themselves and just exist. A room half the size of our current one, which the QRC is expected to move into, would quickly become cramped and overwhelming if students utilized it in the same way. Many students who frequent our center have expressed concern about this, which is why we have organized to keep our space.
Our community values and wants to keep our room, as evidenced by the testimonials to our space that we have gathered, viewable at https://qtclub.me/ . The current QRC room is something that students and staff had to fight quite hard for, and we do not want to give it up. We have spoken with faculty from the LGBTQ Studies Department about the possibility of them overseeing the new space, and we would like to work with the administration in whatever way appropriate.
Queer community spaces are of vital importance during a time when queer people are being increasingly targeted by bigotry, from the federal government, state governments around the country, and otherwise. We have observed the increased anxiety and the increased need for community support in our center firsthand, and we believe that in order for this school to truly protect queer students, as it has resolved to do, it must also protect the spaces that serve them.
We ask for your support in preserving our community space.