Claire Smith
Staff writer
csmith110@murraystate.edu
Photo by Mackenzie O’Donley/The News
Providing a space for students to feel welcome is what one program on campus is trying to accomplish.
Safe Zones provide students with visible and active allies, members of faculty who have been trained in LGBT issues.
MC Lampe, LGBT programming coordinator, is changing how the Safe Zone program works.
“In the past it was one training that people went to and then they got a sticker and that was kind of it,” Lampe said. “It got to point where we had a lot of new people coming on campus and they get an office that already has a sticker and they never went to training.”
The program is being relaunched to prevent new untrained faculty members from inheriting offices that may already have a sticker. This will prevent confusion for students seeking a Safe Zone.
“It’s a program that requires a bit more of a commitment,” Lampe said. “You have to go to two separate two-hour trainings.”
The office refers to the trainings as 101 and 102.
“You get your basics of LGBT issues, vocabulary,” Lampe said. “Specifically, one of the trainings is about gender identity in trans students and how to help them.”
Departments can be trained as a whole or there are larger trainings that individuals can attend. If a whole department is trained it is the individuals within that department that are a Safe Zone. This is to prevent new people that may enter a department after a training from being automatically Safe Zone certified.
“To keep your certification you have to commit to going to a special topics training,” Lampe said.
Special topics include LGBT students of faith and LGBT students of color. Every year new stickers will be given out so there is no confusion as to who has been trained or not.
“Currently there are 300 names on the old Safe Zone list,” Lampe said. “We are transforming these to be called ‘The Friends of LGBT Programming List’ because those are people who have taken the time in the past to go to a training.”
While their names will not appear on the new Safe Zone list until they meet the new requirements their past efforts are still being acknowledged. The new list doesn’t currently have many names, but will grow as people attend trainings.
Makyra Hemphill, junior from Louisville, Kentucky, thinks revamping the Safe Zone program is important.
“It makes sense to change the policy,” Hemphill said. “How can you help someone if it’s been a long time since you have been through the training?”
Hemphill said it’s important for people to know which individuals are certified rather than an entire department.
“You want passionate people to be Safe Zone certified,” Hemphill said. “You want to know that the person you are talking to is listening.”
A few training sessions will take place in April and May. A new schedule of trainings will be announced every semester. If you are looking to train your whole department contact Lampe at mlampe@murraystate.edu.