Student-run organization making strides to a more inclusive campus

Safe Zone is a program at SUNY Geneseo, and many other institutions, in which designated personnel provide training for those who are wanting to become better allies to the LGBTQ+ community. They hold training sessions throughout the year in order to provide information and workshops for those who are willing to expand their knowledge and help create a more positive impact on the community.

The current coordinator of the Safe Zone program at SUNY Geneseo is Professor Alice Rutkowski of the English Department; the program had a fresh start in 2014 when Rutkowski took over and made it into the inclusive program it is today.

 “The program is almost entirely run by students—there is a student assistant coordinator, students are in charge of the selection of new students in the class and all the curriculum is written by students so we’re sure it reflects actual student experiences on campus right now,” said Rutkowski.

Katlin McNeil, a junior history and English double major, is the current Assistant Coordinator for Safe Zone. There are a number of different opportunities on campus for people to sign up to become Safe Zone trained: for example, open facilities for faculty/staff and students, respectively, where they can sign up.  Clubs, organizations, and other groups larger than six people wanting to be trained can contact McNeil for more details on how to book a training session as a group. Stickers for the training are completed by McNeil on Thursdays and can be expected to be delivered by the end of the week of the facilitation.  

Typically, it seems that people are getting trained every three years, but training does not have a deadline. The workshop facilitations can be catered towards different aspects of the community depending on what trainees are looking to be more knowledgeable about. 

“We are there to provide a steppingstone for learning, so what we teach our facilitators is we are not there to be the know-all [or] be-all. We are there to guide and be resources for campus,” McNeil said. “We are there to provide basic knowledge and basic terminology for campus and to give them a push into the right direction.”

The student-run facilitations involve interactive training that assists in bringing knowledgeable insight into the LGBTQ+ community:

“Our job is to just be a building workshop for someone who wants to be an ally or is interested, or even has questions about themselves,” McNeil said. “It’s the first step to learning more about yourself and about the community. This doesn’t mean, ‘you’re Safe Zone trained so you know everything,’ it means you’re committed to learning more through your own ways.”

If students are interested in being trainers for Safe Zone, they can apply during the fall semester to take a course in the spring to learn about how to be a trainer. There is an upcoming open student facilitation occurring on May 20 from 6-9 p.m. You can sign up through the bar code which will direct you to the upcoming events. All the faculty/staff facilitations are currently filled up for the rest of the semester.

For any questions or inquiries about Safe Zone Facilitations email McNeil at kmm70@geneseo.edu or Professor Rutkowski at rutkowsk@geneseo.edu.