Q Center, spring 2021

Active Ally and other programs

Spring 2021 Active Ally offerings for employees were posted in conjunction with University Center for Training and Development: three Foundations Level 1 sessions and two of each of the Active Ally Deep Dives. To date, one Foundations and one each of the Unpacking CisHet Privilege, Intro to Intersex Identity, and Trans101 have been held with a total of 20 participants.

Spring 2021 Active Ally offerings for the students are in their final stages of development and the marketing will be distributed for the beginning of March. The program will also see the launch of two new Deep Dive Workshops on the topics of “Non-Binary Identities and Invisibility” and “Marginalization in LGBTQ Communities” for both employees and students.

In support of training and education across the campus, two sessions of Human Sexual Identity have been offered since January 2021. The first was for WGS 283F: Gender in South Asia for 21 participants and the second for the School of Management Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) committee for 19 participants. Looking forward to the next quarter; sessions have been scheduled with Upward Bound, Fleishman, EOP/TRiO and SEEK. Additionally, we will be returning to SOM DIB for a follow up Q & A panel to provide additional support to SOM faculty seeking to adopt the Inclusive Classroom Framework.

Since January 2021, the education and training coordinator has served in additional roles on campus. On Feb. 26, the work of the Common Read Book Selection Committee came to an end after beginning in late December 2020. The work of the committee was to select the Common Read book for fall 2021’s New Student Common Read Program. The committee considered 100 titles consisting of committee nominations and community nominations and determined a final six titles for in-depth reviews.

Additionally, the coordinator served on the committee to develop the new Leadership Certificate Program to support the development of a holistic leadership program at Binghamton University. As a member of the committee, the education and training coordinator serves as the lead in charge of assessment and completion tracking with the support of Student Affairs Assessment and Solutions for Engagement (SAASI) and committee members to develop the B-Engaged tracking system and the assessment platform and delivery methods that will be used when the program launches in fall 2021.

Finally, since January 2021, the CDC I395 spring semester of the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Expression (SOGIE) Peer Education internship course has begun. This semester focuses on mutual aid organizing and the role of peer education in that work. Also, work has begun on developing video content to be distributed to SUNY police officers for education on LGBTQ+ identities. The series will be four videos of about five to six minutes each and will cover topics such as cishet normativity, domestic violence in LGBTQ communities, an introduction to the Binghamton LGBTQ communities, and trans community needs. This content is in development, but the goal is to complete the videos by the end of May 2021.

The pandemic continues to provide enormous challenges to working with students and supporting their connection and development of community. Often students do not wish to participate in virtual programming.

Pegasus First Year Experience Program

UNIV 101 ABCs of LGBTQ History, Identities and Cultures

Student evaluations from the fall course were distributed this quarter. Here are just a few of the dozens of similar sentiments shared by students in the course:

• It made me look at the world more critically.
• Helped me make friends and the nice amount of course work didn’t add stress to my work load.
• This class was not only educational, but I was able to meet wonderful people who I became friends with over the semester. The class also was a safe place for me to go and destress or talk/ express my feelings.
• I was able to meet and create a community with fellow LGBTQ+ students and be educated about some resources on campus to help me be successful.
• I think that having a group of people to fall back on that understand my struggles as an LGBTQ+ person transitioning to college was incredibly helpful. The professors also gave great advice for the transition, checked in with students often, and invited people that gave interesting and helpful presentations.
• The class has introduced me to University spaces and services that have eased my transition into college life. It has made it easier to form connections with peers and find a space that has benefited me. Being in a class with other queer students learning about queer issues has really helped me understand myself and others. Taking a deeper look into identity, history, and community, the course has helped me learn more about the queer community.
• As I stated before, I feel safe with the adults/profs that taught this class about who I am and that’s never happened before; so, it’s quite a big deal for me. Also, I got a good mixture of learning academically and certain services from the campus I know I have access to.
• Pegasus Programming Board

Programs this quarter

• Class of 2024 Virtual Speed Friending: With 15 student participants, this has been the largest Pegasus FYE event this academic year. Students were able to get to know each other and kept socializing well after the formal pair share was done. Students exchanged social media handles to keep in touch with each other.

Student involvement

The Transcend Discussion Group continued to meet weekly, now in Kumospace as it is much more personable than Zoom.

The center hosted Rhode Island State Sen. Tiara Mack on Feb. 21, in honor of Black History Month. Mack is one of the youngest and the first openly queer and African American senators in state history. She won her seat by a wide majority, running on an unapologetically young, Black and Queer platform. The title of Mack’s talk was “Supporting Your Community Through Elective Office.”

Student interns are currently planning for the last quarter of the year:

• Transgender Day of Visibility Social Media and Poster Campaign
• National Day of Silence Social Media and Poster Campaign
• 5th Annual Lavender Celebration and Pride Awards