Interim LGBT Center Director comes to Tufts

Morgan Mead has temporarily replaced Judith Brown as the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center (LGBT) after the former director moved to Brown University over the summer.

Mead will serve as the interim director of the Center for the next six months, until a search committee makes an offer to a permanent director.

Mead is one of the candidates for the permanent post. "I'd be delighted to have the job," he said. "I've really enjoyed this month, and I've been impressed with the students and the atmosphere."

The students have been equally impressed with him. "Morgan is doing a great job so far," said David Rosen, a member of the Tufts Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Collective (TTLGBC). "He has a lot of innovative ideas and wants to bring people into the Center who wouldn't otherwise come. It's a pleasure working with him."

Mead left his position of fifteen years as dean of students and English teacher at Buckingham, Brown and Nichols (BBN) School to come to Tufts. While at BBN, he founded the school's Gay-Straight Alliance.

Under his stewardship, Mead wants to make the Center more accessible. "The challenge is for students of all sorts to feel comfortable coming in," he said. "If you're questioning, or not ready to talk, or heterosexual, it might not occur to you to come in [to the Center] or you might feel apprehensive," he said.

His interest in working with college students, contacts with Tufts faculty members and the fact that he knows Brown led Mead to Tufts. He also admitted that the directorship position held some personal appeal. "In this job, I advocate for students. In my last job, I represented the institution," he said.

Mead was also impressed with what he considered the University's commitment to supporting the LGBT community. "The fact that Tufts cares enough about students' emotional and psychological health to invest in resources [for them] speaks to me," he said.

The LGBT Center serves a dual purpose at Tufts. It produces programs for the benefit and education of the entire Tufts community. It is also a resource for the LGBT population by helping groups such as TTLGBC and offering a book and video library for student use.

The Center also sponsors men's and women's groups, a graduate student group, a faculty and staff group, and confidential peer counseling.

"These programs are important," Mead said. "In the past, people who struggled with being different in a very significant way _ i.e. sexual orientation _ did it alone and without resources."

Mead feels that Tufts has a tolerant climate. "My sense from being introduced to people as the LGBT Center director is that... [Tufts] is very accepting." He said that many LGBT students "express enthusiasm about the atmosphere" and that "as campuses go, this seems to be a supportive one."

However, Mead emphasized that while "Tufts is not a homophobic place, this is a homophobic world." Every year, there are incidents of graffiti and intolerance, and many LGBT students and faculty remain closeted. "One would hope that this would be an ideal atmosphere where people have a better shot at being themselves," he said.