One college campus's need for a safe zone: a case study

The increased presence of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students and faculties underscores a fundamental epistemological break between campus diversity and inclusion. Universities will proudly announce their commitments to a diverse community of learners but will offer very limited possibilities for meaningful inclusion. Most diversity initiatives are indeed based on a hypothesis that every disenfranchised group can, within the academy, create an inclusive space. This essay's primary focus is on deconstructing the manner in which a ‘safe zone’ project became the focal point for an administrative office and an academic program to co-opt in an attempt to ‘own’ this dimension of diversity, in other words, the LGBTQ on this campus.