Georgia Southern University students are holding a sit-in protest on both the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses today, Monday, April 29, in response to the institution discontinuing SafeSpace, a voluntary training program designed to lessen discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people. The Current's Jabari Gibbs takes a look at the details surrounding the decision, from both the University and student perspectives.
Gibbs, from Atlanta, Georgia, is a senior at Georgia Southern University. Majoring in communications, he is the Editor-in-Chief for The George-Anne Inkwell. This article was published as part of Grice Connect's partnership with The Current.
Georgia Southern University students are planning a sit-in protest on both campuses Monday to express discontent after the institution abruptly discontinued a longstanding voluntary training program designed to lessen discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people.
The demonstration comes amid growing concern that the safety and well-being of queer and trans people could be threatened amid a wider political backlash against transgender rights. The training known as Safe Space had been previously endorsed and lauded at GSU, but President Kyle Marrero said last week that he was powerless to continue the program after policy updates by the Board of Regents.
On July 1, 2023, the University System of Georgia (USG) revised its policy concerning freedom of expression and academic freedom. The handbook now says that institutions are prohibited from offering training that may include “affirmations, ideological tests, or oaths, including diversity statements.” President Marrero told a Faculty Senate meeting on April 24 that Safe Space was deemed out of compliance because of that change.
It is unclear why it took nine months to reach that conclusion at the Statesboro and Armstrong campuses. At the time of publication Sunday evening, Safe Space was the only training offered by GSU identified as violating USG policy revision.
The main UGA campus in Athens had stopped Safe Space training as well, Marrero said.
At the GSU campuses over the last two weeks, university administrators have removed public notice of Safe Space/Zone and moved public-facing information about LGBTQIA material and resources.
But that isn’t all that has been happening. GSU has also taken down from public-facing university website pages the comprehensive lists of resources for LGBTQIA+ students and dedicated pages for LGBTQIA+ material.
According to the university, approximately 111,600 GSU website pages were moved as part of a website redesign to help “user interface and to streamline experience. The university said the pages with information about these programs had been moved to the GSU intranet, specifically the MyGeorgiaSouthern Portal.
However, as of Sunday, none of the university’s LGBTQIA+ services were visible on the MyGeorgiaSouthern Portal.
LGBTQIA resources can be found on the Library Guides tab, however, most of the links have been updated to lead to a page that includes the university’s inclusive excellence statement.
The avalanche of changes sparked calls for action by GSU community members worried about civil rights at the Armstrong and Statesboro campuses, said Donavan Edward a third-year doctoral student.
“The sit-in was established by a coalition of students who refuse to stand by as our identities and our rights to resources are being removed from campus. The sit-in was established as a way for us to peacefully protest that we are here,” said Edward. “We are going to be here and you can take away the fact that you won’t mention us on campus, but we’re still going to be here and be proud of being here and there’s nothing that you can do about that.”
In addition to the student bodies of both campuses, Boro Pride is supporting the Statesboro sit-in, and First City Pride Center planned to rally at the Armstrong sit-in.
The decision to discontinue Safe Space comes at the same time as Marrero’s directive for a poster to be removed from the counseling center, which said that the university offered gender-affirming care.
There were claims that LGBTQIA+ materials, such as flags and stickers, were removed in conjunction with the removal of the poster. The university has denied these claims and explained that the posters for gender-affirming care were removed due to inaccuracies.
Executive Counsel of Legal Affairs for the university, Maura Copeland, said in the Faculty Senate meeting that after speaking with providers at the health care center to see if the university offers gender-affirming care, they were told no. That’s not an accurate depiction or description of exactly what is offered. She went on to explain that it would be more accurate to say they offer hormone injections or blood work.
Gender-affirming care, as defined by the World Health Organization, can include any single or combination of several social, psychological, behavioral, or medical (including hormonal treatment or surgery) interventions designed to support and affirm an individual’s gender identity.
What is Safe Space?
Safe Space was an optional training offered by the university’s counseling center. The national training website defines it as an innovative, dynamic, hands-on approach to creating a safe space for all; focusing specifically on the LGBTQIA community.
The workshop aims to reduce the often unwelcoming and even hostile environments in which LGBTQIA people navigate in their daily lives. Workshop participants explore their roles and responsibilities in creating a more welcoming environment at work, school and in communities.
“As a person who identifies with the community, it is really helpful. Because I’m only a few letters in that acronym. And I have more to learn about my brothers and sisters and non-binary siblings, who are part of that alphabet,” said Edward who has experience with Safe Space.
Wick Conner, a theater major at Georgia Southern who identifies with the LGBTQIA community, was not out when they first started attending Safe Space at Georgia Southern. They met their partner at the university and credit a lot of their growth to the services brought by the Safe Space program.
“I’ve been going to therapy with the GSU Counseling Center for about three years now, I’ve been seeing the same therapist for that time. I think that it has been a wonderful service for me to use,” said Conner “ I love the fact that they had those services that included people from multiple backgrounds, multiple identities, and they are stepping back and taking away some of that resource and that is going to be a huge detriment to the population of this university.”
The majority of the universities within the USG used to offer Safe Space training or workshops. However, once Safe Space was identified as out of compliance with USG policy, the pages from previous Safe Space were not completely removed.
Even more, most Georgia universities have comprehensive lists of resources for LGBTQIA+ students and dedicated pages for LGBTQIA+ material, a stark contrast to Georgia Southern’s website index.
A Google search yields a webpage that leads to the LGBTQ+ alumni network webpage. All of the positions within the leadership council for the LGBTQ+ alumni network are unfilled except for the chair. There is a link to a private Facebook group titled Georgia Southern Alumni LGBTQ+ Network, containing 160 members.
The only other webpage that contains some of the resources offered by the university is the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. However, this was only updated after concerns were brought up in the Faculty Senate meeting that they would be rendered invisible by being placed behind areas that only current students could access.
At the time of publication, none of the university’s LGBTQIA services is visible on the MyGeorgiaSouthern Portal.
LGBTQIA resources can be found on the Library Guides tab, however, most of the links have been updated to lead to a page that includes the university’s inclusive excellence statement.
What’s next?
The university has committed to replacing the Safe Space program with training that aligns with the new USG policy by the start of the fall semester.
In the Faculty Senate meeting last week, Marrero said,” We’re looking at what other institutions have done that have moved away from Safe Space.”
“They are now wanting to enlist a very general training on discrimination broadly. not specific to any identity group,” said Edward. “And words that had been said about this training, are that it’s watered down, that it’s nothing like anything that Safe Space was, and that they are still questioning if it is too controversial at the watered-down version. And they’re considering watering it down more.”
