The Northeastern Allied Student Coalition (NUASC) is currently working to propose having a resource center for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Supportive-Straight community (GLBTQS) on campus.
“[Northeastern] is one of the major universities that does not have a GLBTQS office,” said Brian Cox, president of NUASC.
The hopes of NUASC, according to Cox, is their plan to start a resource center would be similar to the cultural centers available already at NU, such as the Cultural Latino/a Center and the African-American Institute.
The resource center would house a more private counseling service to the GLBTQS student population beyond the Center for Counseling and Student Development in Ell Hall. There would also be publications and other information for students on issues and events regarding the community.
NUASC wants to create a safe space for students that want to hang out, talk to peers and be able to be themselves, Cox said.
“It may house an office for NUASC and NUBiLAGA (Northeastern Bisexual, Lesbian and Gay Alliance) — two of the GLBTQS interest groups on campus,” Cox said.
Cox hopes that the center will be more than just a place to gather information but rather safe space for GLBTQS students with resources available.
“NUBiLAGA is a resource center [for students],” said Jaxon White, president of NUBiLAGA. “[The center] was proposed and went through in our constitution but was [later] rejected to allocate more space.”
NUASC and NUBiLAGA, according to White, hope to pull together to make the resource center more than just a topic of discussion.
“One group can’t make this happen so [NUASC and NUBiLAGA] hope to pull together as one group [to create the center],” White said.
The Curry Student Center has a location being looked at to house this resource center, should NUASC be given permission due to its central location.
There are positive and negative qualities of the student center that are still being researched by NUASC in having the resource center in that building.
Privacy is one negative factor about the student center, Cox said, but could be worked around by the structure and shape of the space if provided.
On the other side, the student center is the home to a large number of student groups and locations which would make the resource center more visible and accessible.
“As for a physical four-wall [space] there is no existing open space,” said Gail Olyha, the Associate Dean and Director of the Student Center and Activities. “[NUASC] can petition for student organization club space.”
Allotting space for student organizations is an annual process and is handled through the Student Center Governing Board (SCGB).
“That group [SCGB] ultimately oversees the club allocation and/or space issues [for student organizations],” Olyha said.
NUASC is doing research currently, said Cox, to organize a presentation to the administration explaining why there’s a need for such a resource center. NUASC is hoping to gain as much support as possible like the support for the rape counselor last year.
“I don’t see why there shouldn’t be as much support,” Cox said.
UMass-Amherst and the University of Connecticut Storrs, for example, both have separate buildings for the GLBTQS student population. Only a handful of colleges and universities have established as extensive offices and programs as those two universities, Cox said.
The Stonewall Center at UMass -Amherst, according to the center’s Web site (umass.edu/stone wall/), provides cultural and educational programming, video, audio and text library holdings, community outreach and many other sources of information and services to the GLBTQS community.
UMass-Amherst is comparable in numbers to Northeastern and understand that because of the number of students, Cox said, they maximize their resources to provide a service to the student body.
“To establish a space if even to have a footprint on campus and establish visibility for GLBTQS would be doing a service [for the GLBTQS community],” Cox said.
