Two decades ago, Gonzaga University became the first Jesuit university in the country to have a dedicated resource center for LGBTQ+ students. Though the Lincoln LGBTQ+ Resource Center started small, its steady growth has cemented it as a pillar of safety and visibility for queer students.
While the center opened in 2004, real growth took time — its first full-time employee wasn't hired until 2016, when Matthew Barcus was brought on as program coordinator. Barcus has spent the last eight years working to ensure that Gonzaga's queer students have resources that he didn't have when he was a college student.
Then in 2022, Jamie Bartlett was hired as the first director of the Lincoln Center, which was named for Gonzaga alum and Board of Trustees member Joe Lincoln. Bartlett oversaw the center during a period of rapid expansion. However, she says she never planned to stay in the position long.
"I'm a big believer that there should be turnover in organizations," she says. "You shouldn't have people sitting in jobs for a long time because I think they end up stale, particularly at these types of organizations."
Bartlett served two years in the position before passing the torch to her successor, Brandon Haddock, who started work last week. Haddock came from the Spectrum Center, a similar resource at Kansas State University, where he worked for 14 years.
As the Lincoln Center Anniversary Gala on Oct. 12 draws near, the Inlander caught up with Barcus, Bartlett and Haddock at different times last week to understand where the Lincoln Center has been, what impact it has had on Gonzaga's queer students and its plans for the future. Their answers have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
INLANDER: What led to the success and growth of the center since you started there eight years ago?
BARCUS: Students continue to organize around what they need and what they want to see as resources, as opportunities, as programs, so that has been helpful. We've also had a really engaged administration. It has [also] been continued collaboration with folks, including our faculty, that has allowed us to grow programming in a co-curricular way and to extend out and train more people.
It seems like the center is focused on not just the students, but the faculty, too?
BARCUS: We're certainly not focused on faculty, but to really support the students we have to be connected with faculty, and we have to collaborate with other staff members.
What was the Lincoln Center like two years ago when you started as its first director, and how has it changed?
BARTLETT: We were half the physical size that we are now. Last summer we were able to take over an office next door, take down a wall and just expand. Before that it just didn't have a cozy feel and didn't necessarily feel inviting.
Now the center does have a robust population of students who just come in and sit down on a couch and get some studying done between classes, and then they bounce.
What are some of the most beneficial programs at the center?
BARTLETT: We have what's called SAGE training, that's sexuality and gender equity training. It's primarily geared towards faculty and staff, so it's a chance for them to just get a little bit smarter so they can support the students. Something as simple as them having a safe space to practice pronouns and ask those questions that they haven't felt comfortable asking is really helpful, because then they get it right.
We started another program that was based on stuff I had done in the military. It's called SPEAR, (skills for personal empowerment, advocacy and resilience). We know that as members of the queer community we're gonna face extra stresses and hardships. So we did self-defense training with just queer students at nYne Bar & Bistro. Kitty [Kane], who owns that bar, allowed us to use the space at night when it was closed. We had students in there getting used to uncomfortable situations, learning a little bit of physicality, punching, you know, getting out of chokes and some stuff like that.
It feels like you're preparing these students for a world where they'll probably face hate at some point.
BARTLETT: That's exactly it. We are in a more accepting time now than we have been before in so many ways. But there's still this really vocal hate presence that needs to be protected against.
How do you create a safe and affirming space for queer students at a Jesuit university?
BARTLETT: You just keep plugging away. A lot of it is just the visibility, and that was a big push for me. We shouldn't be as quiet. We should be active on social media. We shouldn't be afraid of the negative things that will come back from that, which does happen. I think students respond well to not just me as part of the community, but the other members of campus who are allies. Having allies be really visible in support, I think, shows a more generally supported place.
I have been shocked at how affirming a place Gonzaga is. When I got here, people were so supportive from kind of unexpected places.
Do you think queer students on Gonzaga's campus feel safe?
BARCUS: Some students feel very safe on campus, but some students, depending on what their experiences have been, only feel safe in specific spaces. There are some students that come here, and it is a culture shock that we are as inclusive as we are.
HADDOCK: Gonzaga has done a good job at making sure that our students do feel like they are welcome, and that means a lot to the students. I don't like using the word "safe," because nowhere, as we know, is particularly free of violence. So it is imperative that we have a presence, not just for our queer students on campus, not just for our queer faculty and staff or our alums, but the community as a whole.
You spent 14 years as the coordinator for the Spectrum Center at Kansas State University. What are you pulling from that experience to bring to Gonzaga?
HADDOCK: It's very similar in some ways. Kansas State University is a much larger institution, and so there is an opportunity [at Gonzaga] for me to be more holistic in how I engage with students, faculty, staff and the community. That's very, very important for me.
What do you hope the next 20 years look like for the Lincoln Center?
HADDOCK: The queer world is cyclical, just like anything else. I think that the issues that we saw 10 years ago will be seen again. One of my philosophies is that I want the students coming into Gonzaga today to have the opportunities and the visibility that I didn't have.
BARCUS: In the next 20 years, I just want to see more visibility. I want to see more opportunity and more accessibility, both for people of all ability statuses, but also more accessibility to physical spaces for people of any and all genders. ♦
