Cal State Monterey Bay opens new center for LGBTQ+ student success – Monterey Herald

The Rainbow Raft Pride Center, a hub for queer student success, is now open at Cal State Monterey Bay. Its grand opening on May 8 garnered support from Seaside City Councilmember Alexis Garcia-Arrazola and Monterey County Supervisor Wendy Askew.

The hub is the latest inclusivity center on campus, joining the El Centro hub for Latiné student success and the Helen Rucker Center for Black Excellence. The space will provide educational, social and cultural programs and be a hub for LGBTQ+ student life on campus, according to David Reichard, this year’s faculty coordinator for the center.

“The center’s goal is to provide a safe and welcoming space for students so they can have a space to find allies and other students like them,” said Reichard.

The vision for the Rainbow Raft was a collective effort, according to Reichard, and planning started this past fall. The hub will be student-driven, as reflected in the name of the center which came from a meeting Reichard attended of the Otter Pride Club.

“It’s so important to have a space where students can feel 100% themselves, and build connections with other students like them,” said Tyler St. Pierre-Young, staff coordinator of the center, in an email.

On May 7, Askew presented a resolution to the Board of Supervisors in support of the Pride Center. According to the resolution, the Pride Center “represents a significant milestone in the university’s ongoing commitment to LGBTQ student success.”

Garcia-Arrazola attended the grand opening representing Dawn Addis, state assemblymember for the 30th District, with a resolution to recognize the center. Addis represents parts of the counties of Monterey, San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz.

“Those resolutions mean a lot in terms of the current climate we’re in. There’s a lot of political pushback for LGBTQ folks across the country,” said Reichard. “To have our local and university leaders say ‘we see you, we care about you and you’re worthy,’ it sends a really strong message that those students belong at CSUMB.”

In 2023, 20 states passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Some of these laws include restrictions on queer rights on campuses across the country, including prohibiting transgender students from joining sports teams or using restrooms that align with a student’s gender identity.

According to Reichard, “the Pride Center represents an institutional commitment for students to feel a sense of belonging on campus.”

“To me, one of the biggest impacts of a center like this is simply showing our LGBTQ+ students that they are important to this campus and they belong here,” said Pierre-Young.

CSUMB President Vanya Quiñones and Brian Corpening, chief diversity officer and associate vice president for inclusive excellence played a big part in getting the center off the ground, according to Reichard.

“We made a commitment to creating these success centers so (the Pride Center) was a natural extension and next step,” said Corpening. The Rainbow Raft will help promote a “sense of opportunities for connection, success and enlightenment,” for the campus, according to Corpening.

Diversity and inclusivity has “always been in the DNA of CSUMB,” said Reichard. But with the creation of the Otter Cross Cultural Center and Office for Inclusive Excellence, “institutional support has been more prominent and helpful to pull these threads together.”

As Reichard is retiring this spring, he hopes to see the Pride Center reinforce themes of inclusivity, intersectionality and help educate the campus on queer issues.

“If I had a magic wand, I would love to see programming that makes visible the diversity of the queer and trans communities at CSUMB and beyond,” he said. According to Pierre-Young,  the hub will also focus on hosting LGBTQ+ focused events on campus and support student success.

The grand opening of the hub also attracted community support from local organizations such as Monterey Peninsula Pride which aims to foster a supportive space for the LGBTQ+ community. Also in attendance was the advocacy group Rainbow Speakers and Friends, which has brought speakers to Cal State Monterey Bay to speak with students in the past.

The local support provides insight that the Pride Center is “not just something that exists within this campus. It has meaning within the broader community,” according to Corpening.

The opening of the Rainbow Raft was “a truly collective effort that pulled together a lot of different threads on campus,” according to Reichard. “That’s why it happened, things like this never happen by themselves. One or two people can’t do it. Our campus community stepped up to make this possible.”