Kent State’s LGBTQ Student Center will introduce its new advisory council board at 9:30 a.m. Thursday Oct. 6 in room 317 of the Student Center.

Ken Ditlevson, director of the LGBTQ Student Center, said the meeting will be open to the public.

“We want people to come and hear what we’ve accomplished in this last year,” Ditlevson, said, “and where we’re headed into this new academic year.”

The advisory board, formally known as the LGBTQ Student Center Staff Faculty Advisory Council, is meant to guide the LGBTQ Student Center and make sure it’s sharing information broadly across different departments, Ditlevson said. It is made up of faculty members from various areas of the university, such as residence services and athletics.

“Groups are so important so that it’s not just an authoritarian decision,” Ditlevson said. “But that you actually get diverse feedback.”

Ditlevson and other board members select new members who they believe can represent different departments and identities.

“As long as they’re contributing members, we want people helping us,” Ditlevson said.

The list of new members is continually growing, Ditlevson said, and these members are added on a basis of need. Membership is by invitation only.

“We need all these people at the table,” Ditlevson said. “So it’s not just one center on campus, one person — me — trying to change everything for LGBT equality. We want lots of allies broadly across the university.”

The board used to meet once a month, Ditlevson said, but now its members are regrouping and restricting so they can be more task-oriented.

Ditlevson said they will discuss their upcoming projects at the meeting and the advisory board will provide slips for students to give feedback on they want and need from the council moving forward.

Sam Karam is a diversity reporter, contact her at [email protected].