Coming around on the GSD Center
Discussion on campus the past few weeks has been largely centered on the need for a Gender and Sexual Diversity Resource Center. I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but I would like to offer my thoughts on the topic because I think I have a somewhat unique perspective.
I have not been particularly involved with the discussions surrounding the development of the Resource Center, and it was not until I was recently presented with more information on the subject that I have become a whole-hearted supporter of the movement. In my current opinion, the Gender and Sexual Diversity Resource Center is an urgent necessity for Colby, but it seems that many students experience somewhat positive, yet also apathetic feelings towards the idea. I felt a very similar way originally, and it was not until I became more educated on the topic that I truly saw the importance of having a resource center.
When discussion first began last year about the idea of a Gender and Sexual Diversity Resource Center (hereafter GSD Center) I was very skeptical of its necessity. I did not know a great deal about GSD issues, and I knew even less about what a Resource Center would look like and what new purpose it would serve. I felt like the campus already had significant resources to deal with GSD topics and maybe they just needed to be coordinated better to be more effective. Despite all of the discussion on campus surrounding the GSD Center and the necessity of it, I remained personally unconvinced. I stayed this way until I sat down with a member of the GSD ad-hoc committee and really talked through some of the concrete facts as to why a Center was necessary and what sort of tangible benefits it would provide that we do not currently have.
To me, the most convincing arguments as to why we need a GSD Center deal with the structural issues which exist in the way Colby handles these matters. When Heather Pratt ’11 wrote her thesis last year, she spoke with 11 girls who had been victims of sexual assault, of those 11 only three reported the assault. This number should be striking enough in and of itself. However, what is even more alarming is that of the three girls who did report, two of them said that given the chance to do it again they would not report. Of the 11 girls that Heather spoke to, the only one who had a gratifying experience in reporting was the girl for whom Heather herself acted as an advocate for throughout the process. This tells me that there is a serious problem in the way in which Colby handles the reporting of sexual assault. A GSD Center could work not only to address this, but also to act as an advocate for students who are going through the reporting process. The sexual assault reporting process seems to be a structural problem at the College which could be directly alleviated with a GSD Center.
Another structural issue which a GSD Center would address is the issue of various support groups for students. Currently, there is very little support available for students who are dealing with eating disorders. A GSD Center would deal with body image issues and could professionally coordinate support groups for students with eating disorders. This is not the only area of support that a GSD Center could provide.
Groups like The Bridge and the Feminist Alliance do a lot of support work with students facing GSD issues. A GSD Center would allow for this type of work to be coordinated and executed by professionals. To continue to leave it up to student-run organizations is not only endangering the well being of people who need support, but it is also unfair to the students providing the support. Their job is to be students, not counselors.
In this article, I have only scratched the surface of what a GSD Center would look like, why it is necessary and what sort of services it will be able to provide. My main purpose in writing this piece is not to lay out a comprehensive argument of why such a Center is necessary, but rather to encourage every member of the Colby community to educate themselves as much as possible about the GSD Center. This is a serious and complex issue facing our campus, and I have learned from this experience that being fully educated about it makes all the difference in how you view it. It was not until I took the time to fully learn about the GSD Center that I was thoroughly convinced of its necessity. I would implore everyone to learn as much as they can about the topic in the coming weeks.
