On Northwestern’s campus, there are 216 doors with one flashcard-sized sticker, and they all convey one message: This is a safe space.
The stickers show a rainbow triangle overlapping a black one, the logo for NU’s Safe Space program, a part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Support Network. They identify the trained volunteers who can provide support with and information about LGBT issues.
The stickers form a “visible support network,” said Biz Lindsay, director of programs for the Women’s Center.
Since it started in 2000, the program has trained about 500 students, faculty and staff. When the program began, it focused on gay, lesbian and bisexual issues, but it has since added sessions on transgender and multiple-identity issues.
The training was incorporated into Community Assistant instruction for the first time in September 2005.
Despite the new programming, the program’s purpose remains the same.
“It seems very simple, like, ‘Oh, it’s just a sticker,'” said Lindsay, who is also the program’s co-chairwoman. “But just being able to see that there are places and spaces where (sexual orientation) is not an issue and that there is support is really important.”
Before Safe Space, there was the Safe Harbors program, which required no training for its members. Safe Space was created to provide better information and quality control.
“Being gay myself, I don’t feel like I’m personally threatened in the university,” said Weinberg senior Christian Engley, a Safe Space volunteer. “But of course there are moments when it’s obvious people just haven’t really thought about LGBT people when they speak. Sometimes I feel there’s a lot of that – not hatred or threat, but an ignorance or unawareness of LGBT people at Northwestern.”
Those interested in participating in Safe Space fill out an online application and then go through a three-hour training session. The session emphasizes listening skills and familiarizes volunteers with theories of sexual identity formation and with campus and community resources.
Volunteers also learn how to support people during the coming-out process.
In some cases volunteers are never contacted, as in the case of Shea Rentschler, a former Center for Student Involvement staff member.
But having the resource available is more important than how often it is used, Rentschler said.
Religion Prof. Cristina Traina said people have contacted her after seeing her name on the Safe Space contact list, and students have reached out to her after seeing “the little tag on (her) door.”
There are more than 200 volunteers in the program, and 61 percent of them are undergraduates. Volunteers include CAs, professors and University Police officers.
That number is set to increase with another training session this quarter. The Support Network reports about 30 new volunteers each quarter.
“Some of the most important ripples this program will create is when students and staff and faculty move beyond the walls of Northwestern,” said Jonathan Lewis, Communication ’02, events production manager for Norris University Center.
“There is considerable debate about how equal LGBT citizens will be in the United States,” Lewis said. “I believe that the programming that we do in Safe Space will positively affect discussions in living rooms, classrooms and state legislatures and Congress.”
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