After two years of pushing for recognition of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender student rights by various groups around Grounds, the Office of the Dean of Students will open the University's first LGBT resource center.
The center, located in the basement of the Rugby Faculty Apartments just past Beta Bridge, will officially open this Sunday with a housewarming reception. The center offers resources such as pamphlets and books, maintains a staff to help students and provides a "safe space" for LGBT students, Dean of Students Penny Rue said.
Of US. News & World Report's top-10 public institutions two years ago, only three did not have paid staff to work with LGBT students: the University, the College of William & Mary and the University of North Carolina, LGBT Union President Kate Ranson-Walsh said.
"It's obviously a regional problem," Ranson-Walsh said.
She said students began gathering information about a possible LGBT resource center two years ago when they found that many peer institutions provided support for LGBT students.
Center planners met with alumni, administrators and students before the plan went into effect, she said.
The Office of the Dean of Students officially decided to take on the LGBT resource center this summer and there was little opposition from the University administration, Ranson-Walsh said.
The resource center, which is partly modeled on the University's Women's Center, will be staffed by a graduate student intern Gretchen Ryan.
Ryan said one of her duties will be coordinating undergraduate volunteers, who will hold open hours at the center.
In addition to supportive staff, the resource center has a library that will provide materials University libraries may not carry and serve as a place where students can do their homework or hang out.
The University will fund the resource center staff's salary, while the LGBT alumni organization, the Serpentine Club, will fund programming.
There also were donations from individuals, and the Women's Center provided a great deal of assistance, Ranson-Walsh said.
She said the resource center should not be confused with the LGBTU, which is a student organization.
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