Members of some Syracuse University student organizations said they are looking forward to the arrival of the new permanent director of the LGBT Resource Center, khristian kemp-delisser.

Last week, kemp-delisser was named the permanent director of the center. They are expected to start at the university on April 2.

“Overall, we’re really excited for the new director and hope to see some progress made,” said Elizabeth Sedore, president of the Pride Union at SU.

The Pride Union and other advocacy groups already partner with the LGBT Resource Center to promote events and programs on campus. With the new director, members hope to expand existing partnerships and build new ones, Sedore said. The center has always supported and promoted the organization’s programming, she added.

The LGBT Resource Center offers support to people with marginalized gender identities and sexualities. The center hosts discussion groups and events such as the Rainbow Banquet, which celebrates LGBTQIA+ communities at SU, SUNY-ESF and in the city of Syracuse.

kemp-delisser currently works at Colgate University. They graduated from SU in 2001. kemp-delisser employed a hands-off approach to LGBT services at Colgate, allowing LGBT students of color to create their own spaces they were comfortable in, kemp-delisser said during a public forum at SU in January.

Dolan Evanovich, SU’s senior vice president for enrollment and the student experience, said on Wednesday during the university’s first student media “press briefing” that one of kemp-delisser’s first tasks as director will be to hire a new associate director.

Abigail Henry, the program coordinator for Students Advocating Sexual Safety and Empowerment, said she’s also excited to see what kemp-delisser does as director.

“I’m excited that we have someone new because we haven’t had someone this semester,” Henry said.

Rob Pusch, a former member of the University Senate’s Committee on LGBT Concerns, was named interim director in November. Tiffany Gray, the resource center’s former director, left in November to take a job with West Chester University’s LGBTQA Services.

Henry said she hopes in the future the center will work on incorporating intersectionality, or the overlapping of individuals’ identities, such as race, sexual orientation and class.

Sedore said she would also like to see the center diversify its programming. She added that the center is doing as much as it can with the resources it has.

“I think they do a lot with what they have,” Sedore said. “We have to recognize the university hasn’t provided them with much.”

But there’s more the center could do with university support, Sedore said. The center currently employs only three senior staff members, including the director, according to its website. Five additional student staff members also work at the center.

Initiatives to expand the center’s hours and move the center closer to campus would also greatly benefit students, Sedore said. The center is currently off campus on Ostrom Avenue.

Like Sedore, Henry also sees an opportunity for the center’s programming to reach more students.

“It would be great to see them visible to the community and on campus,” Sedore said.

Published on February 28, 2018 at 9:22 pm