“The college’s centers and institutes serve students and the larger community by addressing society’s most important challenges…” – an excerpt from the Queens College website.

While I think it’s great that Queens College has an idealistic mission of enabling students to conquer major societal issues (which they go on to define as things such as “cancer, pollution, and racism”), there is a gaping hole amongst the aforementioned centers and institute, a hole that one QC alumna saw.

When the VP for Finance and Administration asked this alumna what she wanted for graduation back in 2011, she responded that a Queer Resource Center would be cool to have on campus…and thus an idea was born.

Since then, the idea has grown. And grown. And grown to the point where a written proposal was drafted and backed by multiple students and professors at Queens College.

The goal of the Queer Resource Center would be “to provide consistent advocacy and support for LGBTQI students.” That sounds like a mouthful but the basic breakdown is: LGBTQI students need a body on campus looking out for their interests and helping them out when they need it.

Currently, Prism is the only LGBTQI group on campus, organizing meetings and events for LGBTQI students and allies. It’s a safe haven for students of all sexualities and genders, but doesn’t have the resources to provide the consistent advocacy and support that this group of students needs.

According the alumna spearheading the operation, having a Queer Resource Center could decrease the hetero-normative standard on campus – which means that the campus could become a place that doesn’t promote heterosexuality as the normal/preferred sexual orientation. Saying that differences are okay, and even encouraged, is a constructive philosophy for anyone to have. [Quick poll: What do you think about the hetero-normative standard on the QC campus? Is heterosexuality encouraged or promoted on campus or on college-related social media? Leave a comment!] 

But even if you don’t want to get all philosophical, a Queer Resource Center would be a place oozing with pragmatism. A place where a transgender student can come and say, “Hey, I don’t have anywhere where I can pee safely.” or a gay student can get support because his sports teammates verbally abuse him after practice, or a lesbian student can ask what to do about a professor who is homophobic…The list of issues that LGBTQI students face everyday goes on and on and on. And a Queer Resource Center could help resolve those issues.

In terms of what the proposed center would do, it’d go beyond just providing support and necessities for LGBTQI students but would promote and partake in activism of other issues too.  “Racial justice is ultimately a queer issue too,” says the alumna, “amongst many other things. It’s about addressing student needs and rights.”

So while “cancer, pollution, and racism” are all clearly important, to foster such problem-solving capabilities, the students need to feel both safe and accepted. And that safety and acceptance can’t end with straight cis-gendered people (people who are heterosexual and identify with the gender they were assigned at birth). Everyone should have their basic needs attended to and nobody should feel like they don’t have resources on campus.