Photo via St. Lawrence University
Pride Week has been a week dedicated to showing support or pride for students on cam-pus that don’t identify as heterosexual. The week has been full of events from tie-dying to faculty training to a drag show happening tonight at 7 p.m. in the Winston room.
Monday featured President Fox addressing students and faculty on Millennium Way in front of the Student Center, highlighting St. Lawrence’s role in the growing conversation regarding diversity and inclusivity of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) community.
“We committed to seeking common ground, or, more pointedly and personally, to understand better the experience of different-ness,” Fox said in reference to the University’s adoption of a formal statement on diversity.
The President implored Laurentians to assume leadership in order to advance positive change. “Only if done here first,” he said, “can the nation or the world create the larger scale of community life that protects the dignity and worth of all people, as if our common ground is also sacred space.”
Inclusive in these communities are Lydia Kenney ‘18, Bran-don Studler ‘17 and Taylor Sukdolak ‘17 who worked to make Pride Week as amazing as it has been. Gabe Warner ’18, a previous officer position holder on SaGA and who is running the @herewegoSAINTS Instagram account this week, said that the week is “a time when those of us who ‘swerve’ (as I like to say it) can just be happy and inform those who know less about the community.”
One of the most impactful ways SLU has seen improvements to the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer) environment on campus is with the initiation of the SAFE Space grant.
A SAFE Space is a safe and inclusive area designated on the St. Lawrence campus for members of the LGBTQ community and their allies. Although SLU is supportive of LGBTQ issues, more steps can be taken to ensure the privacy of students who may or may not, openly identify as LGBTQ.
When you think of a SAFE Space for LGBTQ students, then, you probably do not think of an area above your campus bar. But currently, the SAFE Space is headquartered in the offices above Pub 56. The issue of having the SAFE Space above Pub 56 concerns SAFE project coordinator, ‘Rolake Odetoyinbo. “Alcohol can lead to violence, and LGBTQ students may be less willing to come to the SAFE Space if they have to walk through a bar of people drinking,” said Odetoyinbo. Work orders have been submitted to relocate the SAFE Space to another area of campus. Furthermore, Odetoyinbo says, “While we do not want to be hidden somewhere, we do not want to be in a place such as the Student Center, which is a hub of activity, because then there is a privacy issue.”
As of 2015, Campus Pride Index has given St. Lawrence three out of five stars in overall campus pride, while Clarkson University is not even acknowledged. Although St. Lawrence lacks in areas such as LGBTQ Recruitment & Retention Efforts, scoring only one out of five stars led students to begin taking action. Admissions Ambassador Samantha Colton ’16 is leading the project. “I am working with Admissions to create inserts for the folders that every prospective student gets when they come visit SLU, containing all campus resources,” says Colton. “It is unfortunate we received such a low score, and we really need to work hard as a university to become more inclusive and open to diversity.”
The Campus Index is an on-line database, created to help colleges make their campuses safer and more welcoming for the LGBTQ community. Odetoyinbo expresses that St. Lawrence’s Campus Index scores were not impressive, and the SAFE Space was a result of a recommendation by the index.
The SAFE Space is meant to be an area for students to ac-cess services and resources. Student groups such as LGBTQ, etc. and SaGA also use this space for their meetings frequently.
Professor and Coordinator of Gender and Sexuality Studies, Danielle Egan, acknowledges SLU’s efforts towards bettering the LGBTQ communities experience on campus. Egan says that “we are very appreciative that St. Lawrence has given us this space, and we hope that they continue to increase diversity and inclusivity.”
While the campus still needs to improve their Campus Index, students are noticing the effects of the SAFE Space on campus.
“I have seen clear improvements during my short time on this campus so far,” said Warner. “But I feel like there is still quite a ways to go. The SAFE pro-gram is great but it doesn’t really help when most problems occur, which is usually during the weekends at parties or in pass-ing.” Warner said he hopes by the time he graduates, there will be great improvements to the cam-pus. Events like PRIDE Week and more knowledge about the SLU SAFE Space will help.
“I just want people to be more open-minded about things they may not understand, and stop calling each other names, it’s really just not funny,” he said.
St. Lawrence University is fully committed to making its campus safer for every student, but there is always room for improvement. The St. Lawrence University SAFE Space is located above Pub 56, and staffed Monday through Thursday, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. All students are welcome to utilize any resources provided, please contact SAFE Project Coordinator, ‘Rolake Odetoyinbo, modetoyinbo@stlawu.edu