Student Association (SA) senators were either critical or silent on a request to oppose the closure of a queer community space during a meeting Wednesday evening.
E-board members of UB’s LGBTA club — the organization that manages that space in SU 373 — asked SA senators to publicly oppose the room’s closure, with the date set for Dec. 19. This comes amidst an ongoing clash with the university’s new policies that no longer grant club-exclusive rooms, where UB counts SU 373 to be under the policy’s purview and the club argues that the space is an exception.
The club’s goal has expanded. They now want the university to reverse the policy as a whole — to allow all student-run spaces, especially for communities that have experienced discrimination. The e-board has reached out to all of the on-campus minority and queer organizations, whether to work towards gaining their own room or to co-manage SU 373, according to junior e-board member Lorien Samarra at Wednesday’s meeting.
Critics dominated the discussion on the request, saying that the space was exclusive to the queer community.
“Would you be opposed to making it instead of a ‘queer space,’ and instead make it an ‘all-inclusive space?’” SA Senator Sierra Fernandez said. “Leaving it to the only name of ‘queer,’ it’s not as inclusive as you’re wanting to make it sound.”
SA Senator Aeaad Alawaad went a step further, arguing that the people from other clubs may not feel “safe and welcome” in the LGBTA club’s short-term plan to have a coalition of clubs run SU 373.
“How do they feel welcomed into an area if it's more geared to the LGBTQ people? Alawaad said. “If you want a coalition of clubs taking it over, how are the people of those clubs going to feel safe and welcome over there?”
Brigid Skidd, a member of the LGBTA club, shot down the idea of converting the room to an “all-inclusive” space.
“The purpose of our room — and the thing that it does do for a lot of people — is it is a private space for people who are discriminated against,” Skidd said.
Fernandez and Samarra briefly clashed when Samarra said the queer space’s number of visitors was three to four times the amount of other lounges on the floor.
“It’s not like I’m saying, ‘Give me the numbers now,’ but you’re comparing it to other spaces. I don’t think that’s right because you’re saying ‘Oh they don’t get as much foot traffic as us; that means we’re better than them,’” Fernandez said. “Your message is being just mistaken because of the numbers that you’re putting two to three times.”
The Senate’s response was a sharp contrast to the one from the university’s Faculty Senate executive committee, with some members vocalizing their support during a meeting Tuesday afternoon. At the time, the LGBTA club requested the committee to write a letter to Vice President for Student Life Brian Hamluk to set up a meeting in an effort to convince Hamluk to keep the space open.
“It’s a type of group that has been exposed to harassment and we need to be concerned about it,” Vesna Danilovic, a political science professor, said. “This is not just any club. I’m sorry you’re going through this.”
Faculty Senate Chairperson Kristin Stapleton told the club that she would write and send the letter on behalf of the committee.
The support SA senators did have were for student-run spaces broadly, but not about SU 373 itself.
SA Treasurer Jack Koscinski told the club that a resolution could be put out in support of student run spaces but won’t name SU 373, citing SA’s viewpoint neutrality policy.
“We have to back everything with some level of equality,” Koscinski said.
SA Senator Grant Peterson said at the meeting that he supported student-run spaces; he told The Spectrum afterwards that he started drafting a resolution on it.
Peterson told The Spectrum Monday that the resolution would be about “student spaces, reassessment of room assignment policy, open lines of communication and a statement that SA commits to advocating for all students’ access to campus resources in a manner that upholds principles of equity, non-discrimination and respect for diversity.
Peterson’s resolution — co-sponsored by SA Senator Joshua Brodsky — is on the table for this Wednesday: when the Senate and advocacy committee meetings are held back-to-back.
SU 373 is not mentioned in the document, but multiple references to the situation are made, including “established community spaces that provide support, privacy, and consistency for student populations.”
Peterson told The Spectrum that he intends to make a list of definitive statements during the Senate meeting, with the opportunity for affected students to provide comments on the resolution’s merits.
Samarra told The Spectrum Monday that while it was disappointing that the Senate wasn’t willing to name SU 373, it was clear that the Senate did oppose the administration’s policy of closing down the room and other general student run spaces.
“In the future, we will continue to work with Student Association and hope they remain an ally in the fight for student-run spaces,” Samarra said.
Mylien Lai contributed to the reporting of the article.
The news desk can be reached at news@ubspectrum.com.
Emma Mendola is a student at Amherst Central High School and a high school intern at The Spectrum.
