The Bright Signal Alliance club will be holding a safe space training session for faculty and staff.
The training will focus on teaching faculty and staff to be more inclusive to students and their identities in the classroom and on campus.
“It’s primarily to help faculty and staff learn how to be more inclusive in their language and to be more cognitive on where different people are coming from,” Kathleen Gish, Sociology instructor and event coordinator said. “Be aware of the biases we already hold, the assumptions we make about people when we meet them and how we inadvertently marginalize people when we make assumptions about them.”
Although led by students, it’s exclusively held for faculty and staff.
“What this is doing is training teachers and staff to be allies to the community, advocates for diversity and appreciating and embracing identities,” she said.
President of Bright Signal Alliance Josh “G2” Estepp said during the training, personal stories are told about why training and allies are needed, giving the subject a more intimate view and better understanding.
“This is reminding teachers of what their students are struggling with, the obstacles that students face — and anyone who’s dedicated as a teacher obviously wants to help students learn to overcome their obstacles and this is just one of many,” Gish said.
She said although marriage equality is a subject that is focused on, there are still other issues people are facing, such as hate crimes and discrimination.
“This is helping give teachers, staff and administration who are dealing with students, the language and the tools to help deal with the discrimination or oppression or hatred that students are encountering on campus,” she said. “And also try to educate their students about it.”
She said attendees will receive a safe-space emblem to place on their classroom door, a 40-page manual that includes resources throughout the community available for students seeking guidance and a glossary of words that are common within the LGBTQ community, but not outside of it.
“It’s the idea of connecting people to support services, resources and community,” she said.
Vice President of the club Myekale Novy said a lot of information is given, but it’s not all heavy information.
“There are people in the community that have had led very lucky lives and haven’t had to face discrimination because of people that are trained and know how to live lives without discriminating,” Novy said.
For faculty and staff wishing to sign up for the training, visit the Center for Teaching and Learning website. The training will be held on April 19, from 9 a.m. to noon.
“In many ways, it saves lives — but it also makes this campus a safe, nurturing learning environment for everyone,” G2 said.
For students, on April 10, Bright Signal Alliance will hold a diversity rally from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the quad by Building 7. The goal is to illustrate similarities between people of all cultures and backgrounds.