Safe Zone program looking for facilitators
There are multiple organizations on campus that strive to make a more inclusive campus community. One of which is through Safe Zone training, a student-led organization that hosts workshops for anyone who is a part of the LGBTQ+ community who wants to become a better ally. There are currently several openings for workshop facilitators.
To become a Safe Zone facilitator, you need to apply for women and gender studies (WGST) 232, Safe Zone Train. The WGST course, according to the Geneseo website, trains students to become facilitators in Geneseo’s Safe Zone program, covers LGBTQ history and identities in addition to more contemporary issues and problems. There is an application process to join the class along with a few prerequisites. You must also be at the sophomore level or higher.
Katlin McNeil, a senior history and English double major and medieval studies minor is the current Assistant Coordinator for Safe Zone. Regarding the Safe Zone course, McNeil states: “It’s more of a course for students to take and [potentially] become facilitators and to learn how to become better leaders on campus and be more constructive.”
McNeil then continues: “It’s also a great learning opportunity for them to be more proactive and taking a Safe Zone facilitation helps people become better allies for themselves and other people within the community. Also, to help people who are in the community speak out where their voices can be used.”
There are many different ways to be involved even without necessarily being a facilitator. Continuing to attend facilitations each year is one of the most effective ways to be a regular Safe Zone contributor.
McNeil states in regard to Safe Zone training. “It is a three-hour session talking about how to be an ally. It’s more of a basic course: you'll go over some terminology, [for example]. But the main focus and takeaway is how you yourself can use this stuff. Correcting friends’ behavior in a social setting and being informed for yourself.…. But it's making sure that you're also a resource for those students (apart of the LGBTQ+ community) and professors.”
Safe Zone is intended to bring together a community and educate those who are willing to listen. In McNeil’s experience, her involvement started with one of her previous Safe Zone trained professors. “My second fall semester at Geneseo I took a class with a professor who taught me many things about the LGBTQ+ community while at the same time opening my eyes to my own identity. This is really why I joined the Safe Zone program. I saw this as an opportunity to take action for myself and my own identity rather than just being an ally to others. Safe Zone was the bridge to allow myself to express myself within a queer space.”
This program teaches those who are willing to be educated on matters that surround them in the LGBTQ+ community. Professors, students, and faculty all benefit from the education.
The application to sign up for the course to become a Safe Zone facilitator ends Friday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m. There are facilitations that you can sign up for or you can also request a group facilitation for an organization by contacting Alice Rutkowski rutkowsk@geneseo.edu the Safe Zone Coordinator or McNeil kmm70@geneseo.edu or scan the QR code to apply to become a facilitator.
