The Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC) is open to all students, and acts as a valuable space for members of the Macalester community to be welcomed and supported. The center, which is located in the basement of Kagin Commons, is “a student-run space based around exploring different identities and issues related to gender and sexuality,” as described by co-chair of the GSRC Grey Micah ’17. Micah also emphasizes a strong focus on intersectionality, a value that is echoed by the other co-chairs.

The resource center, which all three co-chairs Alex Harrington ’19, Grey Micah ’17 and Anna Mickle ’18 say is less of a formal resource center and more of a “safe space” to come and “be around community,” as Mickle describes it, offers a variety of services to the student body. Office hours are held in the GSRC every Sunday-Thursday from 7:00 p.m. to midnight; these hours are a time for students to come to the GSRC — a space that houses tea, snacks and hot chocolate, along with a variety of rentable books, art and other resources — and do work or engage with GSRC volunteers, co-chairs and other students. The co-chairs also run “Tea Times” every other Friday where students can gather and discuss a specific topic related to gender and sexuality.

While these scheduled events are integral to the goals of the GSRC, the co-chairs feel that the space is primarily a place for students to feel welcome and heard, whether that be through a scheduled club meeting or a casual diussion. The co-chairs encourage students to get involved with the space and share their ideas. Harrington explains that although the co-chairs have responsibility as the leaders of the space, they are always looking for suggestions and input from students on how to make the GSRC “more happenin’”; the voices of Mac matter to the GSRC. The “student-powered” aspect of the center is at the core of its values and goals. More than anything, the GSRC wants to hear from you. The GSRC has an email list at [email protected] as well as a Facebook group called Macalester College Gender and Sexuality Resource Center. Please share your ideas and help to support this student-powered space.