The The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Center, which will phase out the old LGBT Services, is scheduled to open in Jan. 2008, according to Deb Luckadoo, director of Talley Student Center.

Luckadoo presented plans for the unveiling of the new GLBT Center and its director to members of the LGBT community, administrators and interested students during the LGBT Informational Forum Monday evening.

A space has been set aside in Talley Student Center but will not be disclosed until closer to the center’s opening, she said.

“I want to fix it up before you come see it,” Luckadoo said to the group at the forum.

She said a new GLBT Center director will be hired to supervise the center. The job was posted Oct. 9 and will close to applicants Nov. 9.

Luckadoo hopes to have candidates on campus for interviews by late November.

Students, staff and administrators shared excitement for the development of the new center.

“For me, the center is a great announcement,” Laura Bauerband, a junior in business management and co-president of BGLA, said. “The center is a place open for students to go when they don’t feel comfortable on campus.”

The newly hired part-time graduate adviser to LGBT Becky Jaeger said the center is definitely filling a need.

“This campus needs this [center], and I think most of the students in the LGBT program would agree,” Jaeger, graduate student in counselor education, said.

Jose Picart, vice provost for diversity and African-American affairs, shared data from the 2004 General Climate Student Survey that surveyed 3,211 undergraduate and 1,315 graduate students across the University.

“Over half of heterosexual students think the climate for LGBT is good, so we have work to do,” Picart said. “There is a schism that is between the heterosexual and the GLBT community as for feeling safe on campus.”

Bauerband said her personal experiences reflected this divide in thinking.

“Overall, it’s a negative climate [currently],” she said.

According to Picart, the center could help change that campus climate.

“The establishment of the GLBT Center will go a long way for making a statement about the University’s stance,” he said. “I’m looking forward to what’s to come. … We’ve got a long way to go.”

Bauerband agreed.

“I am extremely excited there’s finally a place on campus where students are guaranteed to be safe,” she said. “There are more allies standing up for issues now.”

She also said she hopes the new center will provide friends of LGBT persons a place to learn more and become better friends.

“It actually feeds to the entire campus,” Bauerband said. “So much of the campus is not aware of these issues.”

Picart also said he was considering “looking at a small but permanent pay increase for faculty and staff who get certified in diversity issues.”