May 22, 2025
Dear Students and Colleagues,
I am very happy to share some outcomes of our Committee for CSUCI’s LGBTQ+ Community. This Committee was formed through my office this semester as the need for it became clear from conversations within the Committee for Undocumented Students. I thank the members of both of these committees who dedicated themselves to biweekly meetings throughout the semester, working to stay abreast of current news and events and providing educational opportunities and resources for the campus.
The Committee for CSUCI’s LGBTQIA+ Community’s charge is as follows:
- Support the President in communicating CI’s commitment to the safety and well-being of LGBTQIA+ students, employees, and visitors.
- Work to support and amplify activities already underway and leverage existing resources that promote a sense of safety, well-being, and belongingness for our LGBTQIA+ community members (e.g., Center for Social Action’s Safe Zone workshops for student and employee allies; Inclusive Student Services Center’s LGBTQIA+ Training for Students, Inclusive Language Training).
- Identify new strategies to help build capacity for LGBTQIA+ students and employees to feel a strong sense of belonging at CI, and work with relevant campus partners to pursue those approved by the President or his designee.
- Monitor federal and state laws as well as CSU policies and practices and advise the President accordingly.
Please join me in appreciating the Committee’s summary of their efforts toward accomplishing these goals this semester:
- Book-ish Bingo: Leigh Patel, researcher and writer of No Study Without Struggle, says, “Stories don't need human beings, but we deeply need stories so that we can
be human.” To encourage our campus community to connect with stories by and about
LGBTQIA+ people, CSUCI’s Queer Advocacy Alliance (QAA), in partnership with the Committee
for CSUCI’s LGBTQIA+ Community, created a Book-ish Bingo Board to spark your summertime
reading. It is available on QAA’s News & Events website, where you will also learn about opportunities to participate in Fall events
to discuss the stories among community.
The goal: Make a bingo (i.e., read all five books in a vertical or horizontal line) or aim for a blackout (read all 25). Please note that many of the featured books are already available to check out through Broome Library, and those not yet in our campus collection soon will be. The board is organized according to age level and potential audience: Row 1 = Children’s Picture Books; Row 2 = Upper Elementary Chapter Books; Row 3 = Young Adult Fiction + Non-Fiction; Row 4 = Adult Graphic Novels + Comics; Row 5 = Adult Fiction, Poetry + Nonfiction. Hard-copy Bingo Boards are also available; please contact Geri-Lyn Himebaugh to get yours. - CSUCI’s LGBTQIA+ Community Resource Hub: This team’s work has been on designing a website to be housed by the Inclusive Student
Services (ISS) Center. They invite you to review the content they have planned and send any suggestions you have to Trent Ruiz by 3 p.m. May 28.
- Education and Allyship: A third team will be working to design educational opportunities for students and employees beginning in 2025-26. One of these, the SAFE Training Workshop, has been offered since CSUCI’s early years, with thanks to volunteers over the years. A new version will be piloted this summer in two parts: (1) an asynchronous Canvas course, with digital badge provided to completers, and (2) an in-person follow-up session, with a “Safe on Campus” placard provided to completers. A fourth team is working on ideas for making the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies a more visible element of CSUCI’s campus culture. Reach out to Brandon Langford if you have contributions to add to the ideas brainstormed by this team.
The two committees, working in service to our Undocumented and LGBTQIA+ communities, have accomplished much this year. Beginning in January of this year, the Committee for Undocumented Students – which grew to incorporate concerns of Undocumented employees and their family and friends, as well – conducted workshops for every division.
Again, please join me in gratitude for the depth of care and investment of precious time and energy in all of this critically important work.
Sincerely,
Rich Yao, PhD
President