Stonewall Students Want ‘More’ Stonewall
The Stonewall Community at KU is a first-year initiative headed by the GLBTQ Resource Center, and its members are already asking for “more.”
According to Christine Price, Director of the KU GLBTQ Resource Center, the SC’s goal is, to engage students and educate [them] on LGBT history and resources.”
To further the mission of the SC, each student is automatically enrolled in the recent gender-inclusive housing at KU. The Stonewall students get their own hall in an unnamed dorm on campus. This is meant to keep them closer to their Stonewall Community, so that they may help guide each other into this new world.
The community is open to all but, “geared toward freshmen.”
In its first semester, the community houses 20 students and hopes to add more in future years.
Each student is assigned a mentor and must meet with their mentor three times a semester. There are five mentors between the 20 students, and their goal is to guide the students, “in resources community and academics.”
In addition to their mentor meetings, the students are required to attend weekly meetings, at first, and then bi-weekly meetings after the first month. They must also attend other, non-stonewall events: one Allies meeting, one GLBTQ Event and one multicultural event.
Grad Assistant, Letecia Garcia said they were worried the, “requirements were overwhelming,” but, at an end-of-semester Stonewall meeting, many students said they were “disappointed” that there weren’t more meeting.
The GLBTQ Resource Center will be updating the curriculum for the SC in the future and is confident more students will jump to join the community.