Guidelines for Resource Center Usage

All student organizations, groups, or individuals intending to hold an event or gathering in any part of the LGBTQ Resource Center will first need to sign an agreement that they will uphold the guidelines governing the space. Forms can be obtained from Rallie Snowden at The University Counseling Center in the Early Fielding building.  Contact Rallie Snowden at rsnowden@wlu.edu with any further questions.

Washington & Lee's LGBTQ Resource Center Guidelines  

The purpose of the Resource Center is to provide a setting where LGBTQ students and allies feel safe, wanted, included, and valued.   

With this purpose in mind please abide by the following guidelines when using this space to keep it a place where all members of the Washington & Lee community can come to learn, grow, and be.

• Set a tone that promotes a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere by speaking with kindness and respect to every person.
• Strive to learn about experiences other than your own and recognize that your experiences may differ from the experiences of others.  Thus avoid generalizing and "poking fun at" the experiences of others.
• Do your best to speak to and welcome each person that comes into the Resource Center.
• Address conflicts peacefully to the best of your ability and seek Resource Center staff assistance if needed.
• Validate and support the ideas, feelings or experience of others.
• Always ask clarifying questions to learn more of another's experiences; avoid attacking or debating  the validity of someone else's experiences.
• Be mindful of sexually charged topics, language, and perceived behavior as we all come from different cultural and life experiences and have different boundaries and comfort levels.
• If you don't know how someone identifies and would like to know, ask them rather than making assumptions and labeling them. (ex. Ask "How do you identify?" rather than "You're gay, right?")
• Be careful not to "OUT" others (ex. gay, trans, etc.) and be particularly mindful of how you might unintentionally out someone when you see them outside of the LGBTQ Resource Center.
• Practice forgiveness: remember that this is a space where we are all learning and growing.
• If you leave the Center but want to keep some of your belongings at the Center, please store them in a corner or other confined space so that others may use the tables, chairs, and couches in your absence.
• Throw away/recycle your trash and clean-up projects before you leave - it is the responsibility of each person that uses the Resource Center to maintain this community space.