The Office of Multicultural Affairs participates in "HBCU Out Loud Day" on October 16, 2019

The Office of Multicultural Affairs participates in “HBCU Out Loud Day” on October 16, 2019, with the grand opening of the LGBTQ+ Resource Office.

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (October 11, 2019) – Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) is slated to open an LGBTQ+ Resource Office on its main campus.  The grand opening is Wednesday, October 16, 2019, as part of the Human Rights Campaign’s “HBCU Out Loud Day.”

With this historic feat, Prairie View will become the fifth historically black college/university (HBCU) to have a designated safe space for LGBTQ+ members. The resource office will demonstrate PVAMU’s commitment to its students goes beyond just having a group for LGBTQ+ students.  The new office will reflect part of PVAMU’s mission statement “to invest in programs and services that address issues and challenges affecting the diverse ethnic and socioeconomic population of Texas and the larger society including the global arena.”

“I am pleased that we are opening our resource office that will serve as a beacon of inclusiveness and support for our LGBTQ+ community at PVAMU,” said Steven Ransom, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students.  “This office will offer Ally Training for the campus, provide educational resources, as well as serve as the ultimate safe space.”

The resource office is the next phase of recognition and acceptance of more diversity at PVAMU.  The campus’s LGBTQ+ organization, PV Spectrum, began in the fall semester of 2016 when the initial first-year students club/support group UC LGBTQ, which started in 2014, merged with Spectrum.  The programs and outreach by PV Spectrum helped PVAMU’s administration recognize the need for a more inclusive office.

In June 2019, Timothy Sams, Ph.D., Vice President of Student Affairs, formed an advisory board and commissioned a feasibility study for a resource office.

“The LGBTQ+ Resource Office represents PVAMU’s commitment to do all that we can to ensure that our students thrive and are successful,” Sams explained.  “It also signals our commitment to being among the nation’s leaders in inclusive excellence-whereby diversity more than matters. It is a mark of our excellence.”

In August 2019, Vice President Sams appointed Elma Gonzalez, Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, to oversee the development and establishment of the office.  The office will be located in May Hall, which is also home to the Veterans Affairs Office, International Programs/Study Abroad, Women’s Center, and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

“Through this resource office, we will host training workshop events to educate the broader campus community,” shared Elma Gonzalez, Director of Office of Multicultural Affairs.  “I am proud that PVAMU has taken the lead in dedicating a new LGBTQ+ Resource Office. Students can now find a safe space on campus where they can locate resources and information about support services available to them.”

The LGBTQ+ Resource Office grand opening on October 16 includes an Inclusive Campus Workshop at 10 a.m. conducted by Rishard Butts, Manager of HRC’s HBCU Program, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at noon.

For more information about the Inclusive Campus Workshop, contact Elma Gonzalez at 936-261-2124 or edgonzalez@pvamu.edu. To RSVP for the event, click here.

###

By Michael Douglas