(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch
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ISU students, community mourn restructured LGBTQ+ center • Iowa Capital Dispatch [1]
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Date: 2025-04-02
A group of Iowa State University students and community members, many dressed in black, silently marched across campus Wednesday morning.
They were led by two students carrying a rainbow-colored coffin. It sat on a table surrounded by electric candles while people spoke about their experiences at the LGBTQIA+ Center for Student Success, known as The Center, and what it meant to them and other members of the LGBTQ+ community to have access to a place where they felt able to be themselves with people who understood them.
A photo-board and gnome statue completed the memorial, the board displaying moments of joy at The Center and the gnome representing its more than 30-year history.
The protest and funeral for The Center was held outside of Parks Library to mourn what students called a safe space on campus, which was restructured to comply with legislation passed last year barring state universities from opening or maintaining DEI offices not required by law or for accreditation.
ISU students and supporters protested the changes before they were implemented, and those who gathered Wednesday honored the lost space said its spirit lives on in those who continue to build up their community and fight for visibility.
Arthur Taylor, a senior studying graphic design at ISU, said without his family backing him and the friends he made through The Center, he’s unsure if he would be here today. That, he said, is why the community created by The Center is so important.
“If I had not come to visit The Center my second semester, I don’t know what I would have done,” Taylor said.
Taylor’s sentiments were shared by a number of others who chose to speak about their time at The Center, whether they utilized it for years or found it just a semester before its restructure. While the physical space is still there and rainbows are still hung on its walls, students said it’s not the same with the name changed and the feeling they got that the university, Iowa Board of Regents and state government is trying to hide their presence on campus.
ISU student Silvera Dudenhoefer said beyond The Center acting as a safe and supportive space for those who needed it, the name made clear that the LGBTQ+ community was to be recognized and respected on campus despite the wishes of some.
“In taking the LGBTQ out of the LGBTQ Center, the Board of Regents and ISU administration has shown us exactly who they’re willing to push to the side in an effort to comply,” Dudenhoefer said.
Members of the queer community deserve to have the freedom to be themselves, Dudenhoefer said, especially in a country that touts personal freedom as a tenet of society. If someone doesn’t conform to the way those in power believe they should be, it’s seemingly acceptable to push them aside so no one has to see them.
“We refuse to stop existing, to stop taking up space and to stop living as we were meant to live — proudly, boldly, openly and queerly,” Dudenhoefer said.
Joining the crowd in its protest was Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, who said in comments later echoed in a subcommittee meeting Wednesday afternoon that students must learn about America’s history with the civil rights movement, women’s suffrage and more to examine their causes and how progress was achieved in order to solve the problems of today.
While The Center is lost, Quirmbach said the community it housed is not, and it has grown stronger from these struggles and will win its fight.
“Each and every one of us is part of this rainbow on this coffin,” Quirmbach said. “Each and every one of us has a place here. Each and every one of us has an obligation to stand up for the rights of every person.”
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https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/04/02/isu-students-community-mourn-restructured-lgbtq-center/
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