For some members of Q, Barnard’s campus group for LGBTQ students and allies, the image of a typical Barnard student too often misses the mark.
On Monday, more than 30 students from Columbia and Barnard filed into Sulzberger Parlor to chat with top administrators about creating more campus spaces for queer students and about larger issues of reevaluating their image on campus.
Barnard President Debora Spar, Dean Dorothy Denburg, and representatives from the new Office of Diversity Initiatives took notes during the sixth annual student-led Queer Issues Forum.
Prior to the event, Anna Steffens, BC ’10 and co-president of Q, said in e-mail that the forum was to be held off the record so that “we can ensure that people’s anonymity and ability to speak freely are protected.”
At the forum, organizers gave students opportunities to comment on the role of queer students in the Office of Admissions, residence halls, and classrooms.
One of the main concerns raised by students was the need for a specific Q lounge space. Steffens said in interview prior to the talk that one of the major goals of the forum was to “highlight the need for Q lounge spaces and see that addressed by the administration.”
Denburg—who agreed to have her comments on the record—responded during the forum that offering a Q lounge has more to do with logistics than anything else. She said, “The creation of such a space is one of several requests for designated space. On a space-starved campus, we have to see what we can do.”
But, she said, this kind of open conversation is an important first step. “We seem to be engaged in a positive conversation that involved concrete suggestions to assist the growth in awareness of how students can support other students,” she said.
One first-year student claimed to have “no ideas about the queer community’s role on campus,” and many attendees agreed. But Gavin McGown, CC ’13 who also agreed to comment on the record, said that “one of the best parts” of his Days on Campus experience last April was his involvement with the Queer Cupcakes event. He added, “That was one of the reasons I ended up picking Columbia.”
Some attendees agreed that issues of identity and image are often too blurred for prospective students. One transfer student said that the “typical Barnard student” is often depicted in a way that “serves as a homogenizing force in terms of gender expression.” A junior student continued, stating that way the “typical Barnard student is framed in the application process” can be off-putting to prospective queer high school students during campus tours.
Steffens said that she felt the forum was a success. She noted that one of the forum’s most important aspects was the “expansion of what we think of a typical Barnard woman in terms of admissions.” She added, “I think we could be doing more in terms of painting Barnard students in an open way. Admissions needs to stress that queer students represent part of Barnard’s commitment to diversity.”
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