CUGALA Interview with Residence Hall Director of Loving House

Blake Brown
Nov 2 · 7 min read
Founding committee members in front of the Loving House at its grand opening. Photo courtesy of Angela Li, Cornell Daily Sun.

2019 is a momentous year for Cornell’s LGBTQ+ community.

We celebrate the 50-year anniversary of when LGBTQ+ Cornellians started a tradition of political activism, education, and advocacy around issues of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in founding the Student Homophile League — the second of its kind in the nation.

We also celebrate the 25th year of the LGBT Resource Center. Born out of protest and activism, the LGBT Resource Center provides education, outreach, advocacy, community and support for the queer and transgender community.

As covered by The Sun last month, Cornell recently celebrated the long-awaited grand opening of Loving House, the LGBTQ+ Living-Learning Unit in Mews Hall on North Campus.

For many queer undergradutes and alumni, the opening of Loving House marked a meaningful milestone in LGBTQ+ student life on the Hill, as well an achievement in the effort to create an LGBTQ+ living and learning space on campus — an effort that was rejected by University administrators over 25 years ago.

As a member of the Board of Trustees of CUGALA: Cornell’s LGBT Alumni Association, I commend my fellow alumni who fought tirelessly in years past to establish an LGBTQ+ program house. Moreover, I applaud the current undergraduates who picked up the torch and advocated tirelessly in order to make this dream a reality. In doing so, you exemplified CUGALA’s commitment to making Cornell a more supportive and inclusive place for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Like many LGBTQ+ alumni, when I first learned of the grand opening of Loving House, my first thought was: how can I support the house and the students who call it home?

Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to find that out — I sat down with Taylor Bouraad, Residence Hall Director for Loving House, as she prepares to kick off a crowdfunding campaign, Make Loving House a Home, on November 4.

The Interview:

Blake Brown: Tell me more about yourself.

Taylor Bouraad: I’m Taylor and I am the Residence Hall Director for Mews Hall and Loving House: the LGBTQ+ Living Learning Unit. I have been at Cornell University since July 2018 and have been working on the development and implementation of Loving House since it was officially approved by the University in August 2018. I have my Bachelor of Science in Marine Vertebrate Biology and Master of Arts in Higher Education Administration from Stony Brook University. Prior to my work as an RHD, I worked in various areas of student affairs, including student success via advising, tutoring and large-scale, campus-wide programming.

BB: What is the mission statement of Loving House?

TB: Loving House is a space created through student advocacy with the explicit intention of providing a home and intellectually stimulating space for students passionate about the LGBTQ+ and allied student experience. The mission of the space is to enhance the intellectual and cultural environment of Cornell University regarding issues related to the experiences of LGBTQ+ students. We’re working to foster a living space that’s inclusive of all intersections of identity, and it’s quickly become a place where students feel at home.

Students who haven’t found a home where they’re from or on campus can find a home here. They can develop connections to other queer folks in the community and feel comfortable. Also, students who are transitioning and seek a private space where they can feel at ease and create connections with peers who are also transitioning can find at home here.

BB: Tell me more about the history of the student advocacy that led to the creation of Loving House.

TB: About 26 years ago, in 1993, the Student Assembly passed a resolution to open Loving House for LGB students. The president at the time said there were to be no more program houses on campus. As a result of the activism and advocacy of these students affiliated with the Student Assembly and their demands for a space for queer folks on campus, the University opened the LGBT Resource Center a year later in 1994.

Fast forward 26 years, and Senior Ian Wallace ’20 was conducting research on past student advocacy for an LGBTQ+ living space. His research led him to discover that a year after the University President rejected the Student Assembly’s resolution to create a house for LGB students, Latinx students and allies successfully advocated for the opening of the Latino Living Center in 1994.

Wallace and other undergraduates took this research and brought it up with people on campus and started advocating. Resolutions passed through the Residential Student Congress and the Student Assembly, and Vice President for Student and Campus Life Ryan Lombardi was immediately supportive. VP Lombardi tasked a committee comprised of students and staff to develop a proposal for the house. After the plan was developed by the committee and approved by VP Lombardi, Mews was selected as the residence hall for Loving House, mainly due to its proximity to the LGBT Resource Center.

BB: How are students selected to live in Loving House? Is there high demand?

TB: Students can apply for Loving House when filling out the housing application. We ask a basic question: “Why Loving House” — what you can contribute and what you can gain from the experience. There are 30 beds, and 10 are saved for first-year students. We’ve already received approximately 60 applications for returning students. Although we would love to accept all students, we ultimately assess and make selections based on need — students whose safety would feel jeopardized living elsewhere generally have priority. If students aren’t afforded the opportunity to live in Loving House, they can always apply for the following year or become a valued member of our space by taking part in programming.

BB: What kind of programming does Loving House sponsor for queer students and allies?

TB: We’ve done a variety of programming during our first semester, and we have plans to do even more. We’ve held a number of coffee chats — inviting in queer folks from around the community to talk about their experiences and projects they’ve worked on. We’ve also done service projects and held movie nights and paint nights; we’ve partnered with Planned Parenthood to host a sex toy trivia night; hosted Dykes on Bikes for brunch. We’re trying our best to build a home and allow students to get to know one another, so most of the other programming has been centered around that. We’re still figuring out our partnership with Haven and trying to develop a way to bring together all folx on campus who put on queer programming.

BB: Besides you, what does the leadership of Loving House look like?

TB: There’s a Resident Advisor that works specifically with Loving House, as well as a senior RA in Mews. On our student-led Mews Halls Council, there is an elected representative from Loving House. For the most part, residents tell me what they want to do in terms of programming and operations. Our Faculty in Residence Dr. Lori Leonard has a tremendous amount of involvement in the space. I have a close relationship with the LGBT Resource Center, so we also partner a great deal, and Christopher Lujan, Director of the LGBT Resource Center, serves as a community fellow. Other fellows include: Kristen Loparco (Director of Housing), Dr. Masha Raskolnikov, and Dr. Karen Jaime.

BB: Is Loving House affiliated or integrated with the other program houses on campus, like Ujamaa, Latino Living Center (LLC), and Akwe:kon?

TB: Since we’re a brand new program house, we’re still working on developing our partnerships with Cornell’s other program houses, but we’ve already begun forming relationships through cross-collaboration. Cornellians have intersecting identities and sometimes need to choose between different program houses, and a great deal of the collaboration has stemmed through the RAs and their intersecting identities. For example, LLC and Loving House hosted a pop-up art gallery featuring queer and Latinx artists.

Collaboration will definitely continue to grow and develop throughout the academic year; the benefit of this collaboration is the students getting a taste of different programs from different spaces and gaining the experience of meeting and connecting with students from other communities that they might not have connected before. One of my priorities is to foster intentional collaboration among the identity-based program houses more frequently.

BB: How can alumni support the longevity of Loving House and the students who live there?

TB: First, students are looking for mentors/people to talk to. They want to hear queer alumni’s experiences and learn that they’re not alone. We’re looking into different mentorship programs and considering both active and passive forms of alumni engagement.

Most notably, we’re excited to kick off a crowdfunding campaign: Make Loving House a Home — and we’re counting on alumni support to make this campaign a success.

Funds raised from this campaign will go towards programming, supplies, furniture, and decor for the space, as well general enhancements so that we can truly make Loving House a home. Your support means so much to the students who live here today, as well as those who will live here for years to come.”

Make a contribution to Make Loving House a Home today: https://crowdfunding.cornell.edu/lovinghouse

Blake Brown

Written by

Member, Board of Trustees — CUGALA: Cornell’s LGBT Alumni Association

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