After the Student Senate passed a bill Oct. 18, endorsing the establishment of a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center on campus, the Student Government Diversity Commission called for a town hall meeting regarding the proposal today.
The purpose of the town hall meeting is to create an open forum for any student who wants to address concerns regarding the establishment of an LGBT center on campus, according to Jose Picart, vice provost for diversity and African American affairs.
“The town hall meeting is really just an open forum,” Picart said. “It’s not a decision-making event. It is a public discussion, debate and question-answer period.”
The LGBT subcommittee of the University Diversity Advisory Council voted to submit a proposal for an LGBT Center on campus to Provost Larry Nielsen and Vice Chancellor Tom Stafford Aug. 28. The LGBT Center proposal was forwarded to Nielsen and Stafford Sept. 13. Nielsen and Stafford will review and discuss the proposal with Picart Dec. 14.
“The town hall meeting is more of a community forum, whereas the meeting between the provost, the vice chancellor and myself is to try to look at the merits of the proposal and then maybe formulate some kind of recommendation for the Chancellor,” Picart said.
Picart said he hopes people will leave the town hall meeting with an awareness of the future of the proposal and where it stands now. According to Picart, if a final decision is not determined by that meeting, the proposal may have to be forwarded to Chancellor James L. Oblinger, the Board of Directors or Board of Governors.
The Princeton Review recently rated N.C. State as one of the 20 most LGBT-unfriendly campuses in America, according to Picart. According to the results of the 2004 Student Diversity Climate Survey, some LGBT students do not feel accepted or welcomed on campus and many of the heterosexual majority are insensitive or not aware of the discrimination and harassment members of the LGBT community may experience, he said.
William Swallow, professor and director of undergraduate programs in statistics, proposed an LGBT Center on campus to change these experiences of the LGBT community.
“This is the group that is probably the most pressed in the sense that it seems to still be OK to make rude remarks to them and so forth,” Swallow said. “[The Center] provides a number of functions where the LGBT population on campus will see this as a safe space they can go and be guaranteed to be accepted as who they are.”
Picart said there are students for and against the creation of an LGBT Center on campus.
“There are some students on campus who don’t want this because they don’t like gay people or because they think the cost of the center will be paid for out of students fees or that we will build a separate building [for the Center],” Picart said.
However, according to Picart and Swallow, those are two pieces of misinformation. The LGBT Center proposal does not recommend the construction of a new and separate building, nor does it recommend the LGBT Center to be funded by increasing student fees.
Some students are also against the LGBT Center because of personal views and opposition towards homosexuals, according to Picart.” Then, there is a political and religious undertone of it … and a lot of it relates to different views to the gay and lesbian and homosexual lifestyle,” Picart said.
There are also some students who are in support of the center’s establishment.
Sam Morris, a graduate student in higher education administration, supports the establishment of an LGBT Center and plans to attend the town hall meeting to voice his opinion.
“If the University is making a statement about racial and gender diversity in the nondiscrimination clause, then they need to follow up with it by creating an office like Women’s Center and African American Cultural Center,” Morris said. “It is a much-needed addition to campus. There is a lack of information on campus about LGBT concerns and the Center could address those concerns through programs.”
As far as financial support is concerned, Picart said there has been no discussion concerning the funding of the Center.
“We have no idea how it’d be paid for,” he said. “The administration would have to decide that between the Provost and Chancellor. It would be decided after a decision was made whether or not to have an LGBT center.”
Swallow said he hopes students will be able to clear their misunderstandings by attending the town hall meeting today.
“I would hope that basic confusions would be resolved at the town meeting and would hope that people get the chance to answer their questions,” he said. “Some people have some real concerns and I really don’t know what the questioning will be, but we will be interested in seeing it.”
