Fewer than one in five University students, faculty and staff believe that the University administration is sensitive to the needs of non-heterosexual members of the University community, according to a 1994 survey conducted by the Committee on Environment for Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (CELGBU) at the University. As a result of these findings, members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Union will open a resource center in the fall devoted to the needs of the lgbt community.
The resource center, which will be located in the Women's Center, will house a library of books, pamphlets and audio and video materials dealing with issues of concern to non-heterosexual students, faculty and staff.
LGBTU President Kate Ranson-Walsh said she hopes the resource center will help to improve the climate at the University with respect to attitudes toward the lgbt community.
The resource center will provide materials of direct interest to students rather than scholarly writings on lgbt issues, Ranson-Walsh said.
Student volunteers will be trained to work at the resource center, she said, and the organization also plans to create a Web site for the resource center separate from that of the LGBTU.
The resource center will build on materials already available in the Office of the Dean of Students, and LGBTU will obtain additional resource materials from Alderman Library at no cost, Asst. Dean of Students Glenna Chang said.
LGBTU members "have done an incredible job this semester" with planning for the resource center, Chang said.
The organization has received $4,000 from alumni for the resource center and hopes to receive more funding from faculty members in the future, Ranson-Walsh said.
The organization sent out more than 800 letters requesting financial support from faculty members, fourth-year LGBTU member and resource center coordinator Eddie Nelms said.
Although the LGBTU ultimately hopes to raise $22,000 for the resource center, the center will open in the fall "even if it's just bare bones," Ranson-Walsh said, and even if the full amount has not yet been raised.
Although CELGBU initially suggested a resource center in 1994, students did not begin to develop the idea until last year, she said.
She added that she attributes this in part to "institutional resistance" from University administrators to the idea of an lgbt resource center.
LGBTU members also were dealing with several other issues of concern to the lgbt community at the time, Nelms said.
A resource center was the last item on the list of CELGBU recommendations after the 1994 survey was conducted.
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