Safe Zone, a program to educate students, faculty and staff about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning issues, returns to Mississippi State University’s campus this month.
Deborah Jackson, Safe Zone chairwoman, said the program trains the MSU community to be an ally and handle a variety of issues lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or questioning students may experience.
“Safe Zone training is an introduction to the vocabulary to create awareness, listening to our own students’ stories and learning how to support the community on campus,” she said.
Harry Hawkins, member of the Safe Zone advisory board, said the program was created in response to results of a recent campus climate survey.
“The Campus Climate survey conducted in 2010 here at MSU revealed many LGBTQ students still feel unsafe at this university, and some, unfortunately, are discriminated against overtly and subversively,” he said.
According to Campus Climate surveys, MSU learned most occurrences of harassment come from the hands of other students.
JaNae’ Taylor, a member of the Safe Zone advisory board and psychologist for Student Counseling Services, said she hopes Safe Zone will help these students feel secure at MSU.
“There are things we can improve to make this campus a safe and welcoming environment for students, staff and faculty,” she said.
Jackson said she hopes Safe Zone will host at least two training sessions this academic year to equip participating students, faculty and staff with strategies and resources to make LGBTQ students feel safer at MSU.
She said after the training, participants will be given a rainbow paw-shaped decal or door hanger to display on their office or dorm room doors. This decal signals the occupant has completed a Safe Zone training course, will not discriminate against LGBTQ students or staff and is open to being an ally.
Sarah Young, social work instructor at MSU, said she thinks Safe Zone will build skills for allies to respond to LGBTQ needs while building a campus-wide support system of LGBTQ allies.
“It raises awareness about the issues LGBTQ students and staff face, offers resources for referring LGBTQ students and builds capacity for participants to respond as allies to this community,” she said.
Taylor said she hopes Safe Zone will be a resource students, staff and faculty will be able to go to for help.
“Safe Zone will be a first response of people you can contact to get resources and to feel supported. We will highlight some of the things we already do and the people that are already doing that work,” Taylor said.
Jackson said Safe Zone is also an important program in light of recent bullying across the nation.
“Nationwide bullying has become the focus of national campaigns, and bullying within the LGBT community, specifically,” she said.
Programs like “Trevor Project” and “It Gets Better” are national campaigns for suicide prevention and bullying awareness. The resources of Safe Zone are already on campus, Jackson said.
“They’re here because there’s a need. There’s a safety issue, and it’s critical we pay attention,” she said. “I think it’s a step towards opening our eyes to what’s going on around us.”
There are several organizations on campus supporting LGBTQ students, such as Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, Delta Omega Lambda and Spectrum.
Young said MSU is behind many schools in the area in reaching out to the LGBTQ community. At the University of Alabama and University of Alabama at Birmingham, programs similar to Safe Zone have been in place for years.
“Silence on this issue allows the marginalization to continue,” Young said. “Safe Zone is one way to create a campus culture where all students, faculty and staff are valued.”