FAQs

Is the Resource Center affiliated with other organizations?

The Ohio Wesleyan University Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Resource Center, while not directly linked to other GLBT organizations, is in close contact with such groups as Columbus Stonewall and P-Flag (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). The Center keeps contacts with many other local and national groups through internet access, news letters and other correspondence.

The Resource Center also works to interact with other GLBT organizations on nearby campuses, networking to share information and promote a positive relationship with other groups sharing the same cause.

Here at Ohio Wesleyan the Resource Center’s interaction with PRIDE, the lesbigay activist student organization on campus, helps bring together the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender population on campus. While PRIDE works primarily as a social and activist group, the Resource Center operates on a more education related level, providing reference materials and support on an individual basis.

What resources does the Center offer?

While resources and information are available at Ohio Wesleyan in a variety of places (e.g. Beeghly Library, Counseling Services, Student Activities), there exists no nexus for bringing these disparate facilities together on the topic of homosexuality. The GLBT Resource Center meets this need. The Center houses a variety of books, pamphlets, magazines and videos on GLBT related issues and topics that are readily available for use by the campus community. The Center also provides a trained staff capable of assisting students in dealing with personal issues or with personal issues beyond the scope of the Center: counseling, STD testing, social alternatives, mentoring.

What exactly is a safe zone?

A safe zone is a place where students, faculty, and staff can come and speak confidentially about personal issues without fear of being judged. The Resource Center offers peer support to those persons in need of an understanding environment.

How does the Resource Center incorporate GLBT issues into academic life?

The GLBT Resource Center provides a useful source of information for the incorporation of GLBT issues into curricular and co-curricular learning. The Resource Center provides reference materials for research and paper writing, as well as active, informed interns who can assist students and professors in researching GLBT related topics. The Center can also assist professor in ways to approach GLBT issues and student attitudes toward them in a classroom setting. Such information is necessarily of an interdisciplinary nature and potentially relevant to all areas of curriculum, helping to enrich the diversity and quality of instruction at OWU.

Beyond its functional value, the GLBT Resource Center at Ohio Wesleyan is of great symbolic importance. By supporting such a center, Ohio Wesleyan makes a clear statement that lesbigay and transgendered persons are welcomed and respected as part of the University community. The Resource Center reflects a commitment to diversity generally, as well as a dedication to educating students about the world beyond the classroom.