Students at the University of Cincinnati say they won't let new restrictions on universities stop them from organizing and hosting their annual Big Queer Welcome this fall.
UC's Board of Trustees voted to shut down the school's identity centers last month to comply with Ohio's Senate Bill 1, which recently became law. The law bans public universities from sponsoring programs or centers linked to diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a result, centers at UC that offered support and programming for women, Black students, and LGBTQ+ students were forced off campus.
While the university's LGBTQ Center is now closed, Mel Searle, a Geology student heading into her third year and vice president of the LGBTQ+ student group Alliance Cincinnati, says the center's mission will live on.
"It's really important to make sure that students are able to be authentically themselves in these spaces, and if we hide our identities and we hide these resources from them, UC becomes a less welcoming place. It becomes a place that is difficult for queer students to continue to exist," she said.
Searle says the group is starting with UC's Big Queer Welcome, which for years was hosted by the LGBTQ Center. This fall, Alliance Cincinnati will organize the event without assistance or financial support from the university. The event is scheduled for the weekend before fall classes start, when many incoming students will be exploring the organizations and programs the university has to offer.
The annual welcome event has been a long-standing tradition for LGBTQ+ students. Searle says it's been a critical networking opportunity for those looking for friends and support, and it isn't something the community is willing to abandon in the face of political pressure.
"Students coming from different backgrounds may or may not be able to be out and see visibly queer people prior to getting to college, and this is really their opportunity to do so," Searle told WVXU.
In the past, Big Queer Welcome has been part resource fair, part social, and part drag show. Searle says this year's event, held at the Niehoff Urban Studio just off campus, will be much of the same, though organizers will need some help to make that happen.
More than 20 organizations and community partners have signed up for the event so far, but without monetary support from UC, Alliance Cincinnati says it's looking for performers to volunteer their time and skills to provide entertainment. The group is asking anyone interested in volunteering to visit its Instagram to sign up and see how else they can get involved.
Beyond the welcome event, Alliance Cincinnati says it's working with a few other LGBTQ+ groups on campus and in Southwest Ohio to bring back other services the university once offered, like mentorship and guidance for gay and transgender students. Searle says it will require more time and money to make that happen, but she's hopeful the organization can start to offer some form of mentorship by the spring semester.
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