by Eve Sampson
On a typical afternoon inside the University of Maryland’s LGBTQ+ Equity Center, a handful of students casually gather between the bookshelf-lined walls. Some sit in chairs, others on the floor. For an outsider, it would be impossible to tell that the Equity Center is an organization in flux.
But it is. It doesn’t have a director. The Equity Center started its first week without former acting director Shige Sakurai after almost 12 years on Feb. 6. More than three weeks later, the position still remains vacant.
Sakurai left to become the Director of Equity, Belonging and Change at the Unitarian Universalist Association. Shantala Thompson, the Equity Center’s program manager, is now providing general oversight to a team of graduate assistants, student workers and interns.
“Shantala has been doing a great job,” said Max Zelaya, a junior English major who is active at the Equity Center.
“It’s been kind of tough recently with a couple of people retiring and [the Center] being a little bit short staffed,” she said, “but we’re getting by.”
Thompson hopes Sakurai’s replacement will have the policy knowledge and team-building skills necessary to elevate the organization. The new director should be “someone who really knows how to engage with the staff and graduate assistants,” Thompson said, “and someone who is able to pull from everyone’s talent and have a cohesive team.”
For Mark Kelsey, a junior studying environmental science and policy, inclusivity at the Center is key.
“There’s a lot of room for different perspectives and different, new ideas,” said Kelsey. “The important thing is [that] the Equity Center is able to stay an inclusive place. A friendly, welcoming place.”
Thompson also believes in the importance of intersectional inclusivity.
“Historically, there have been people who are left out of conversations about what’s needed in LGBTQ+ communities,” they said. In the past, Thompson said, white cisgender men in the LGBTQ+ community have received more visibility than others. “It’s important to make sure everyone feels welcome.”
Student organizations affiliated with the LGBTQ+ Equity Center did not respond to requests for comment.
The Center’s comfortable environment resonates with Zelaya. Sitting at the Center’s desk, she said, “It’s a nice, cozy library lounge that people can come in, hang out, be themselves and talk about specific topics like gender identity.”
Zelaya said she wants the future director to be someone who is intersectional.
“Pretty much everybody who comes in here is queer,” she said, “but we also have to consider identities such as race, class, religion and how that intersects with gender identity or sexuality.”
After three weeks without a director, students like Zelaya remain hopeful.
“We don’t know when the new director will be here or who they will be,” Zelaya said, “but I’m looking forward to it, nonetheless.”
Featured image: The lounge in the LGBTQ+ Equity Center is empty on Feb. 23. Photo by Eve Sampson.