The project will be located on a hill near Hinman Dining Center.
Last semester, Binghamton University’s Q Center took on two new professional staff members. The Q Center is an on-campus resource for LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff, and aims to create an environment that is inclusive of all sexual orientations.
Pipe Dream interviewed both Nick Martin — the new assistant director of the Q Center — and Nic Francisco — the new coordinator of the Q Center.
Below is the interview with Nick Martin. As assistant director, Martin works on daily operations and programming.
1. What motivated you to join the Q Center, and can you briefly describe your role?
“As a gay man who didn’t come out to friends and family until midway through my graduate school career, for years I’ve wanted to work directly with LGBTQ+-identifying college students as they work through their own identity exploration while navigating the unique challenges of college life. That support is something I never really felt during my undergraduate experience, but really wish I had. As the assistant director of the Q Center I directly supervise Dr. Nic Francisco, oversee the day-to-day operations of the Q Center, partner and collaborate with campus and local community partners, advance policy and procedures that will better the lives of the LGBTQ+ community on campus and work on advocacy for LGBTQ+ identifying faculty and staff members.”
2. What goals do you have for the Q Center moving forward?
“With all of the full-time professional staff in the Q Center being new as of last semester, we’ve been focusing significantly on long-term strategic planning that will involve revising our mission statement to better align with the work we do and creating engaging touch points with the campus community that help to educate, strengthen and uplift the LGBTQ+ community as well as our allies. We want the Q Center to be known as a place of gathering and information-sharing for the students, faculty and staff at [BU] and aim to invest in initiatives that will prominently feature us as that important resource for all.”
3. What resource(s) offered by the Q Center do you feel students should be more aware of?
“Last semester, we launched our expanded Gender Bender Walk-In Clothing Closet for all who utilize our center. Located in the back corner of our center, this clothing closet was created to better support the transgender and gender-nonconforming communities on campus by providing an affirming space to experiment with clothing in the effort of resisting the gender binary. We are always taking clothing donations for this space and welcome students to come by during our center hours to pick up a new outfit. Additionally, we are relaunching our Active Ally workshops this semester, with the first being next Tuesday, Feb. 15 from 3 [p.m. to] 5 p.m. in the Q Center (LS-G549). Dr. Nic Francisco will be facilitating all Active Ally sessions with the goal that participants will learn more about the LGBTQ+ community while also educating themselves on how they can actively practice allyship toward the LGBTQ+ community in their everyday lives.”
4. What do you personally feel students can take away from being involved with the Q Center and its resources?
“The Q Center is focused on providing an engaging, affirming and friendly space for community building for a marginalized population that historically has been denied space to be themselves and meet others. Through our support services, events and initiatives we aim to have all LGBTQ+ identifying students, faculty and staff feel like [BU] is a home where they feel valued and supported. The professional staff in the Q Center are focused on removing systemic barriers that may prevent the LGBTQ+ campus community from achieving their pursuits and prospering. Those who visit our center can and should expect to be heard, be affirmed, be supported and maybe even gain a new friend in the process.”
5. What challenges are you facing in your role this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and how are you addressing them?
“I came into this position last September and over the few short months I’ve been here, the biggest challenge has been getting students, faculty and staff to visit our physical space on the ground floor of [Glenn G.] Bartle Library. We’ve made significant strides by putting more resources into our space like the Gender Bender [Walk-In Clothing] Closet, redecorating to make it a more modern and engaging space and expanding our center hours to be open until 7 p.m. every weekday night; however, we’re still looking for ways to attract a bigger regular crowd to the center.”
6. After being in your position for a few months, what is something you’ve learned from your experiences at the Q Center?
“I’ve learned that this campus has a phenomenal group of LGBTQ+ identifying individuals who all have a common goal of making the on-campus experience the best it can be for the community. I’ve learned of the very strong and established student organizations like the Rainbow Pride Union, SHADES, oSTEM [(Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)], Keshet and Transcend who are redefining what it means to be LGBTQ+ on this campus. I’ve learned that the important work that needs to be done and that will be done over the coming years is only possible because of the campus leaders that have come before us, and that by continuing to build on what they started we will be a stronger and more unified campus community. I’m excited for what’s ahead!”
Below is an interview with Nic Francisco, the new coordinator of the Q Center.
1. What motivated you to join the Q Center, and can you briefly describe your role?
“I recently finished my Ph.D. and while applying for jobs, I was looking at some jobs that were teaching-based, but the majority of jobs I pursued were diversity- and inclusion-related positions to support LGBTQ students, faculty and staff in higher education. My training is in political science, ethnic studies and gender and sexuality studies; so being at the Q Center but in the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is the perfect cross section of my interest and expertise.
My role focuses on education and training on campus toward LGBTQ cultural competency and internal training for student managers and interns that work in the center itself. Additionally, I’ll be co-teaching the UNIV 101Q course for first-year LGBTQ students and allies in the fall term. I am really excited to return to teaching!”
2. What goals do you have for the Q Center moving forward?
“A big part of my role as the coordinator at the Q Center is to produce trainings for faculty, staff and students to better equip them as active allies to the LGBTQ+ community on campus. So, one of my most immediate goals is [to] have those trainings well attended by the campus community. Students, faculty and staff can join the Active Ally group on B-Engaged and register for trainings and workshops there! Our first training is Tuesday, Feb. 15.”
3. What resource(s) offered by the Q Center do you feel students should be more aware of?
“As new professional staff at the Q Center, we saw an immediate want from the trans and gender-nonconforming student body to expand our gender-affirming clothing closet. We remodeled one of our rooms in the Q Center to have a fully accessible space that we’ve dubbed the Gender Bender [Walk-In] Clothing Closet.
The Gender Bender [Walk-In] Clothing Closet is open to everyone who uses the Q Center! (Monday [to] Friday, noon [to] 7 p.m.) We also have student interns that will be running programs on the fourth Friday of every month that looks critically at clothing, fashion and the gender binary.”
4. What do you personally feel students can take away from being involved with the Q Center and its resources?
“One of the most important resources the Q Center offers students is a space to build community. Every event is an opportunity to meet other LGBTQ folks on campus and build the support every college student needs to be successful on and beyond campus.
We’re also a center on campus that values the social justice orientation of queer politics. By centering a critical perspective of how queer identities must be engaged in a liberatory politics that challenge the logics of white supremacy, patriarchy, ableism and class elitism, we offer a community built on a base of anti-oppression.”
5. What challenges are you facing in your role this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and how are you addressing them?
“The safety concerns are always at the forefront of how we are thinking about our programming at the Q Center. With the recent Omicron wave, we’ve returned to hybrid or virtual formatting for some things. We’re also thinking about the work environment for our student and professional staff and chosen to support everyone’s safety by having critical internal discussions of our responsibility to keeping one another safe. We’ve come to some agreements about testing frequency and the Q Center purchased KN95 masks for our staff and community members to access to keep our space as safe as possible.”
6. After being in your position for a few months, what is something you’ve learned from your experiences at the Q Center?
“I am already so impressed by the caliber of student workers and interns we have! Over a dozen students began their internships this semester and already they’re putting together amazing programs for the LGBTQ community in the coming months. The Q Center is abuzz with ideas and visions for growth!”