University Resident Assistant and Housing Staff Resources

Resident Assistants are extremely important people in the lives of students who live on campus. They provide developmental assistance to resident students and create residence hall communities that should recognize and value every person therein. Therefore, as an RA, it is not only your responsibility to help your residents adjust successfully to college life, it is also to help them become aware of and educated about the many diverse cultures a student can expect to see on campus. Here are a couple of things you can do to raise awareness of GLBT issues.

Bulletin Boards

There are many fun ways to educate your residents on the GLBT community. Bulletin boards are a good place to start. You can do "question and answer" boards, general PRIDE information boards, or just about anything you can come up with. There are many special GLBT events and occasions that offer perfect opportunities to make an educational bulletin board. Here are a few:

• October is National GLBT History/Heritage Month! Ask PRIDE for some facts about GBLT history or research your own. Include some profiles on famous GLBT people (Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Alexander the Great, Emily Dickinson, etc.)
• October 11 is National Coming Out Day and PRIDE sponsors a day chalk full of events every year on the day that the 11th falls.
• During the months of October and April, PRIDE and the Office of Intercultural Programs & Services sponsors two weeks of "GLBT Celebration/Awareness," during which GLBT speakers, programs, events, movies, etc. are at Illinois State.

PRIDE has many helpful ideas and materials for bulletin board creation. If you need suggestions or help making a board, don't hesitate to call PRIDE at (309) 438-2429. Also, the Office of Intercultural Programs & Services, as well as University Housing Services Student/Staff Development (SSD) has plenty of GLBT resources for your use.

Speaker's Bureau Panels

One educational service that PRIDE offers is that of hosting speaker panels. A panel is a group of two or more PRIDE (speaker's bureau) members who have been trained and speak about GLBT issues in front of people (i.e. classes, programs). They can present on a variety of topics, or they can answer any questions the audience might have.

If you would like to have a panel visit your residence hall or floor, contact the PRIDE Speaker's Bureau at (309) 438-2429 or email . Please let us know the date, time, and location for the requested panel. You can specify if there is any information you would like us to present, you can request a Q & A panel or one custom-made for your own specifications. We do ask that you use all of your available resources to advertise the panel to your residents.