LGBT Resource Center Necessary

Abstract

Efforts are underway here at MSU to establish a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer help center located on campus. According to Dr. Matt Caires, the LGBTQ community at MSU is one of the “most underserved” groups that attend the college. This resource center would solve that problem by providing a central, safe location for LGBTQ students to go. This project is a collaboration between three MSU students: Katelyn Weber, Mackenzie Weber, and Hannah Wahlert. As members of Tell 3 Montana, a grassroots LGBTQ awareness organization based here at MSU these women are well versed in LGBTQ issues faced by MSU students. The project is split up into two parts: a sequence of social surveys, which will be headed up by Katelyn and Hannah, and a five-year action plan, which will be headed up by Mackenzie. The goals of this project are to determine whether MSU would support such a help center, what services such an office should provide, what a budget for it would look like, and how we can raise money to support the center. We intend to determine support from MSU and what the center should provide by designing and implementing several social surveys. We intend to determine the five-year action plan including funding by using the VOICE Center and Women’s Center as business models.