Letter from the reporters: Hello, we are team WUmester for the spring semester. We will be bringing you a series of stories about community and belonging on Washburn’s campus.
College campuses have students with many different types of backgrounds and identities. When they come to campus, they find a community that feels welcoming to them and organizations where they can express themselves. For the LGBTQ+ students on campus, faculty members have different ways that they show their support for them.
“Many staff and people have been making efforts to show these students that they are a safe person. Whether that may be signs on the door, going through training or overall visual signals,” said Liz Derrington, lecturer in the English department.
Derrington, whose pronouns are she/they, is currently a faculty sponsor for the LGBTQ+ Queers and Allies group on campus. The Queers and Allies group was formed in 2015 but has been on a hiatus due to the complications since COVID. The group recently held a social event April 4, which could lead to a potential for the organization to come together again.
“The event they held could be a really good sign, and my hope has always been that this was just a hiatus and not permanent,” Derrington said.
While certain staff makes it shown that they are a safe person, LGBTQ+ students are also very observant of these actions.
“Some professors are very welcoming, and you can go and talk to them about anything. They are positive about creating a safe space for queer students,” said Codi Thompson, a senior English major with a focus in creative writing.
When professors on campus make these students aware that they are supported, it can go a long way, as the smallest actions can make the biggest impact.
“Little symbols like having a rainbow flag hung up, that can be a signal to people without them having to ask,” said Mel Ingoldsby, junior English major with an emphasis in literature.
Supportive actions such as these that are spread around campus are seen and noticed from students everywhere. However, there are steps that are needed to be taken for improvement to have the LGBTQ+ students feel safe in their environment.
“Things such as having more inclusive bathrooms on campus and even just talking about them more, that would just be so helpful,” Derrington said. “Just by knowing, ‘Hey, there are safe places to go to the bathroom,’ needs to be said.”
Not only physical steps, such as creating these bathroom resources, are helpful for this community, but also having it taught in classes for education could be a step in that direction as well.
“I think a queer literature class would be fantastic and amazing to have here on campus. Any literature with someone who may be bisexual or queer character would be very beneficial to explore as a class,” Thompson said.
Change is never ending, especially when it comes to making students feel safe on campus. When you hold one event, go on and create the next.
“There is still room to improve on inclusivity. You shouldn’t just say, ‘Well, we had one pride event, and we can be done now.’ You still need to continuously give people their community resources,” Thompson said.
Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford
