Ideas for construction of a resource center for Eastern’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender community were discussed at Monday’s Student Government-sponsored forum.

Though the prospect of an LGBT resource center is supported by members of Pride, as well as Student Government, the endeavor is expected to encounter some setbacks.

“There seems to be three things that are holding us up – space, funding and jurisdiction,” said Mark Olendzki, student vice president for student affairs. “Money is key. If the center is to have full-time staff, we have to pay them.”

Olendzki reported that the university’s space is at a premium and it would be very difficult to find accommodations for the center. He also expressed concern over who would be responsible for managing the center, and led a PowerPoint presentation that explored the successful tactics employed at other state institutions.

The presentation drew from services offered at Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Illinois State University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Olendzki said volunteers will be imperative in future projects that will help in distinguishing Eastern as an LGBT-friendly school.

Among these, plans for distributing a survey throughout the school are pending, and debate as to who will manage the center, should it foster sufficient support, will be addressed in the near future.

The Student Government has deemed these concerns as important, considering past instances of discrimination committed on campus.

Kirstin Bowns, a junior special education major, has been targeted with discriminatory remarks aimed at her sexuality on school grounds.

“My freshman year, I had very short hair, and people called me a ‘dyke,'” Bowns said. “I’ve worn baggy pants and been called a ‘fag’ because I had a purse, and one time I had to carry my friend home from a party because she was punched in the face for being gay.”

These, along with other actions taken against Bowns and her LGBT peers, are the motivation behind accommodating a safe zone that Pride hopes will help new students better adjust to Eastern.

Laura Wussow, a physics education major and former Pride social director, indicated unrest as the pressing reason behind constructing a resource center.

“Some students may come from a high school where it wasn’t mentioned or fully accepted at home, and it’s this huge culture shock,” Wussow said.

While Wussow sees room for vast improvement, Eastern has already taken some measures to meet the needs of LGBT students.

Terri Fredrick, co-adviser of Pride, listed the efforts Eastern has made in order to serve LGBT students.

“We have a registered student organization, as well as a doctor now on staff in medical services working with health issues that concern LGBT students,” Fredrick said. “This library also offers resource guides. The challenges are still there, but more people are accepting. It’s not perfect.”

Fredrick said Pride lacks a consistent source of funding to keep certain programs such as “safe zones” in effect, and has difficulty promoting events as their posters are frequently ripped down.

Nevertheless, Olendzki hopes to work closely with Pride to gauge public input and conduct more research.

“I’m very much in support of this,” Olendzki said. “I see this as something we can do, and we can do it because we’ll do it together.”

Erica Whelan can be reached at 581-7942 or elwhelan@eiu.edu.

Mark Olendzki, vice president for student affairs, hosts an LGBT resource center forum, Monday night in Phipps Auditorium. Problems and solutions to opening a resource center for LGBT persons on campus were discussed.(Chelsea Grady/The Daily Eastern News)

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