What Shapes Our Work
Mission
The GSRC supports all students working toward personal and community empowerment and awareness by cofacilitating community events, educational initiatives, and institutional partnerships.
Goals
Students who engage with the GSRC will be able to…
... identify Northwestern, community and regional resources related to gender and sexuality.
… identify personal values, with context to others, and practice being in community with others outside the constructs of cis-heteronormativity.
... articulate and model authentic and inclusive leadership both personally and professionally.
History
Community
Beginning in the early 1970’s it was student activism that brought queer voices to the fore at Northwestern. What began as Northwestern’s Gay Liberation Front changed to Gay and Lesbian Alliance in the 80’s, Bisexual, Gay and Lesbian Alliance (BGALA) in the 90s, and Rainbow Alliance in the early 2000s. Several other LGBTQIA+ student groups have come (and some have gone) over the years which includes but not limited to: Living in Color, Lambda, oSTEM, Queer Students of Color.
Space
In May of 2003 students passed ASG legislation asking for a student resource center to serve the Northwestern student population. But even then, students were concerned about the solutions the university provided. In January of 2004 the LGBT Center opened providing space and programming to the student population and the campus community. In May 2014 the university celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the LGBT Center and in 2015 the LGBT Center changed its name to the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) to be more inclusive and expansive of the students that Northwestern serves. Later in 2015, the GSRC was placed within Multicultural Student Affairs' suite of resources to provide more intersectional programming and services. Information from the most recent Campus Climate Survey in 2018 and the GQNBT task force in 2019 remind us that the work of programming and belonging must continue as we co-create a Northwestern for all genders and sexual orientations. During the 2013-2014 MSA program review and the 2020-2021 CIC program review it became evident that the work of the GSRC was not effectively housed within Multicultural Student Affairs. The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, along with the Executive Director of CIC began Re-Imaging the GSRC campaign following legislation Rainbow Alliance proposed and ASG passed in 2020. In the Winter quarter of 2023 Student Affairs identified funds to renovate House 5 of the Foster-Walker Complex and after student feedback sessions on floor plans and layouts began construction of the new space in June of 2023. The GSRC opened in its Foster Walker location on October 9th, 2024.