After holding town hall style meetings and discussions during the school year concerning a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center in Talley Student Center, plans for such a place have not been cleared.
According to Tom Stafford, vice chancellor for student affairs, he along with Jose Picart, the vice provost for diversity and African American affairs, and Provost Larry Nielsen are in talks about how to fund the center.
“We’re all totally committed to put it in place,” Stafford said of the center.
The group is in the budget process, which includes determining how much to staff the center and where to house it. Stafford said the original plan was for it to have a full-time director, an administrative assistant and a graduate student assistant.
“We may not be able to get the money for it as originally proposed, but we’ll hopefully get it going because we desperately need it on this campus,” he said.
The target date for getting the center finalized is sometime in July, according to Stafford, but it could be as late as August.
The main holdup, he said, is finding the money for salaries and the space in Talley.
“The outcome will depend on how the budget process in finalized,” Stafford said.
The issue of establishing such a center was a hot one during the school year. Student Government held a town hall style meeting in December where members of the community joined students and University administrators to discuss the creation of the center.
Since then, a number of students have been in discussion with Stafford about it, according to Sam Morris, a graduate assistant LGBT advisor last semester.
“You can probably find a number of people who are against it — even in the LGBT community — because not everyone has the exact same view,” Morris said. “But the majority of people are for it.”
Despite some initial opposition, Morris said people have warmed to the idea and that once the center is put in place, students will see the benefits of it.
“The more people use the center the more benefits they will see of having it,” he said.
Since an LGBT Center would report to Evelyn Reiman, an associate vice chancellor for student affairs, Morris said it makes sense to put it in Talley.
“There is barely any reservable space in Talley to begin with,” he said. “But organizationally it makes sense to have it close to Ms. Reiman’s office.”
According to Morris, the Counseling Center doesn’t quite fit the needs of many concerns the LGBT community would have. An LGBT Center would provide trained people to deal with specific issues.
“The Counseling Center is more for general Counseling — not for specific issues like coming out,” Morris said. “The LGBT Center would have someone specifically trained as a resource.”
