IC News

For 25 years, Ithaca College's Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, & Services has provided students with a place to find community, access resources, and learn about themselves and others.

This fall, the center is celebrating its 25th anniversary, marking a quarter-century of supporting LGBTQ+ students and helping foster a campus culture rooted in understanding, inclusion, and belonging.

The center traces its origins to 1999, when a committee of students, faculty, and staff proposed creating a centralized resource for LGBTQ+ students. It officially opened in 2001 and has since evolved to meet the changing needs of successive generations of students.

Today, the center offers educational programming, health resources, advocacy initiatives, and opportunities for community building. Under the leadership of Crissi Dalfonzo, director of the Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, & Services, the center's work is guided by the values of intersectionality, freedom, and community.

"For 25 years, our center has provided more than just resources. It has been a place where students can build community, explore who they are, and know they belong," Dalfonzo said. "As our students and communities continue to evolve, we remain committed to providing the support, education, and connections they need to thrive."

While the center serves LGBTQ+ students, its mission extends to the broader campus community through educational programs that promote understanding and engagement across differences.

The center's work is particularly important for students navigating the transition to college. Students arrive from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, including differing levels of access to information about identity, relationships, and sexual health. The center provides educational opportunities and resources in an environment designed to encourage learning without stigma or judgment.

For one student, identified here by the pseudonym C.H. ’29, discovering the center shortly after arriving on campus was transformative.

"My high school had almost, like, negative sex education. There was nothing," C.H. said. "Through the center, I was able to go to events where detailed sex education was not shameful or not stigmatized, and it wasn't promoting abstinence either. It was also very inclusive to myself and my friends and people who aren't just a cis man and a cis woman. That was one of the big things that made me feel that this campus cared about my safety, not only in general, but as an LGBTQ person."