Responding to “The Collegiate Closet,” a student diversity grant project, Fairfield and the University’s Office of Student Diversity Programs has taken steps to provide support and resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) students through the Safe Space Ally Network Training. The training session, which took place on Wednesday, Sept. 30, gave faculty and staff ideas on how to create a campus climate that is welcoming to all students, with a special focus on LGBTQ individuals.
“The training serves to indicate to people underlying attitudes towards LGBT people and to challenge stereotypes,” said Fr. Michael Doody, a trainer for the program. “The program also offers an historical perspective on the reality of prejudice — socially, politically and religiously. It then challenges the participants to examine their own attitudes and to change given new data and perspectives.”
To date, 114 Fairfield faculty and staff have participated in this training according to Meredith Marquez, the assistant director of the Office of Student Diversity Programs. In addition to learning how to address homophobia, faculty and staff are informed on the coming out process and how they can be supportive to students who come out to them.
“We try to create an environment where everyone in the room can learn from one another and share strategies that work,” said Marquez. “We also talk about moral decisions, scripture, and Catholic social teaching in terms of sexuality.”
The program has received a very positive response from its participants.
“It was a good refresher course that presented some of the basic elements involved in being an ally to this community,” said Elizabeth Dryer, a religious studies professor. “It was especially rewarding to engage in conversation with other members of Fairfield University faculty, staff and administration who share these values.”
“As an R.A., I went through the Safe Space training and found it to be an eye-opening experience and it helped me to learn more about the LGBT community,” said Ben Heslin ‘11.
The program was started in response to “the Collegiate Closet,” a study that revealed homophobia to be an issue at the University.
“The report was shared with faculty, staff and students through a series of town hall meetings,” said David Gudelunas, a communications professor who supervised the report. “We also presented some key findings to members of the Board of Trustees and many administrators. The report lives online and is still read by many in the Fairfield community.”
According to Marquez, the Safe Space program was one of the policy recommendations suggested in the report. The students and faculty members that worked on the report became a part of the initial Safe Space Committee.
“We hope the program institutionally supports LGBTQ individuals by providing a campus environment that is safe physically, socially, spiritually and emotionally,” said Marquez. “We provide education and experiential learning opportunities for the campus community to combat homophobia, heterosexism, discrimination and ignorance about LGBTQ issues.”
Most are in agreement that Fairfield is making strides every day towards becoming a more accepting environment to all individuals, but more work can always be done to improve.
According to Dreyer, “In the last few years, we have become more aware and pro-active in a public way, but there is always more work to be done to respect, honor, support, welcome and celebrate all persons.”
“I do believe that Fairfield offers a Safe Space and that reality is becoming truer each year. We could improve by always addressing instances of hostility and prejudice and by challenging stereotypes and sexist jokes of every stripe,” said Doody.
Senior Lauren Dusel said, “It is good to see faculty and staff break down the stereotypes that a Jesuit college can’t be open to all types of individuals.”
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