Gender, sexuality, race, faith — students discussed these topics and more at the first meeting of a new social justice advocacy group Wednesday night. About ten students and faculty gathered in Norris’ Louis Room North for the first meeting of In Technicolor, a campus group hoping to build bridges among people of different communities at Northwestern.
“It’s important for people with varying degrees of intersecting identities to feel they have a place where their whole self is welcome,” said Communication junior Derrick Clifton, the group’s founder.
Clifton started the meeting with a simple icebreaker where people moved to a certain side of the room based on whether they preferred salty or sweet snacks, or comedies or dramas. Some people chose a definitive side; others lingered in the middle. Clifton used this exercise to demonstrate that people cannot be defined in absolute ways, establishing a non-judgmental, all-inclusive tone for the group.
“There are so many preferences, so many things we hold dear, so many things that make our identity,” he said. “We cannot necessarily box or categorize. We have to accept the diversity in our lives.”
In Technicolor’s executive board vice chair, Thaddaeus Elliott, said the group will function as a resource for LGBT students, but will also seek to address all factors that make up a student’s identity. Queer issues aren’t the only focus, he emphasized. In Technicolor will address how factors like a person’s sexuality, gender, race and religion intersect.
“We want to serve as a catch-all advocacy group [where] every person on campus will be represented,” said Elliott, a SESP sophomore.
Elliott said that while Northwestern is generally an inclusive campus, students who identify with more than one minority group are at a disadvantage when asked to juggle different identities. He used himself as an example; as a member of Rainbow Alliance, University Christian Ministry and For Members Only, he sometimes feels torn when the different groups’ goals or attitudes don’t align.
“We always end up having to prioritize which label defines our identity at that moment to better fit in with whatever group we’re trying to be involved in,” he said. “With In Technicolor, we wanted to take away having to pick and choose what you’re going to be depending on the day.”
One of the group’s quarterly objectives will involve advocating for an expanded on-campus LGBT center –- ideally, one building or house including offices for a full time LGBT student life administrator, lounge areas and meeting spaces.
Clifton noted that the University of Chicago has a whole building dedicated to LGBT student life; in contrast, the LGBT Resource Center receives $9700 a year from the university and runs out of office space in Norris.
Elliott said the group will work on additional quarterly objectives dealing with social justice, like philanthropy events, service projects and lobbying on campus for improvements at Northwestern. Some specific goals include countering homophobia in Greek life, raising awareness and support for students with disabilities and fighting LGBT youth homelessness. They will also work with faculty advisers as well as student leaders from groups like Alianza, NCDC, the Living Wage Campaign and FMO to foster discussion about how different campus groups can relate to and work with one another.
Clifton ended the meeting by letting the audience take the floor. Attendees discussed cross-collaboration with other groups, different ways to address faith on campus and ways for getting more people involved. Above all, Clifton said, members needed to know all were welcome.
“We are not just an LGBT group,” he said. “We are a group for everyone.”