Hey!

I’m so glad you decided to contact us!

My name is Sarah and I’m a super senior at UofM.  I just began the segment “Ventures in Volunteering” on QueerUmich.  In addition, I am a current volunteer at the Spectrum Center’s Central Campus location.

Volunteering at the Spectrum Center - as well as any of the LBGTQ Student Groups - is super simple.  Most, including the Spectrum Center, table at FestiFall during Welcome Week.  While there, you can join email lists, gather informational materials, and get a few free goodies.  Additionally, the Spectrum Center has an online volunteer form that will be available this fall.  I will send you an update when the form is accessible. In the meantime, here is a link to our site: http://spectrumcenter.umich.edu/.

Is there anything in particular you’re interested in doing?  We have several teams and projects planned for fall.  What did you do during high school and how might some of those strengths assist you while volunteering?

In case you have any further questions or just feel like a chat, you can respond to me anonymously anytime here or, alternatively, email me at rabinowe@umich.edu.  Any correspondence we have will remain private unless you say otherwise.

Please feel free to stop by at either location anytime this summer during your orientation or once you arrive this fall.  We love visitors!

Welcome and Congratulations,

Sarah

Spectrum Center has a Facebook page here!

To make the font size larger on any page, just hit ctrl + (control and the plus sign) on a PC or hit command + (the apple key and the plus sign) on a Mac.

That’s an excellent question!

There’s a lot that we can do to make Michigan a more inclusive campus. Some of them are simple, like calling out bigotry when we see it and standing up for our queer and similarly identified friends. We can wear our Gayz Craze or Ally shirts to show our pride in the community.

On larger level, we can fight for inclusive initiatives, such as gender neutral housing, and petition for protections such as domestic partner benefits.

Like I said, there’s a LOT that we can do. What ideas do you all have?

- Jordan

I can’t answer for “Queerumich” as a whole, but I CAN respond as an anonymous student from the University of Michigan/contributor to this blog.

So I’m sure you’ve read/watched a lot about the actual debate itself- I’ll spare you the repetition in arguments, and let you know that I support the inclusion of birth control- for all reasons- in employee health insurance plans.

But I will give you my take on the bigger issue that this controversy has brought up: 

I feel like the real problem stems from the fact that there is a lack of women in Congress. (Of course, there is also a lack of queer and minority representation as well… US government is NOT very representative) But for the purpose of answering you concisely, I’ll focus on gender equality. The United States is particularly bad- we rank 78th in the World in terms of gender parity in our legislature. Afghanistan, Rwanda, India and China all have a higher percentage of women in their legislative bodies.

Another fun fact- women aren’t actually less ELECTABLE in the United States. Despite common beliefs, many recent studies have shown that women actually do just as well as men in elections. The disparity begins from the lack of women running for office in the first place. Women are far less likely than men to seek candidacy for a lot of reasons. (Lack of recruitment by political parties, division of labor in domestic life, harsher media critiques of women in politics)

So that’s problem #1. Problem #2 is women like Debbie Lesko, who seem to actively fight against gender equality and reproductive rights. So it’s not enough to simply encourage more women to run for office- we have to fundamentally change the way that people perceive women, and gender, and sexuality, etc. 

I’ll cut this response short before I begin rambling about my utopia of an androgynous society, but I hope this has adequately answered your question!

Yes!! Definitely!! :) :)

And we are excited to have you here! Congratulations on becoming a wolverine!

- Jordan