Just weeks before the scheduled opening of a newly established center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students and their allies, Student Affairs and Penn State Commission on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equity teamed up to host a pair of student forums. The first forum took place last night, and the final forum will be from 3 to 4 p.m. today in 110 HUB-Robeson Center.

"Some students feel that they didn't have much voice in the process," said Heather Solimini, staff assistant for the LGBTA Resource Room. These forums are their chance to voice their thoughts about the project since surveys were administered last fall.

Student Affairs hopes to follow up their survey now, with LGBT students interpreting these results at the forums, Neill Johnson, LGBT Equity chairman, said.

"Our primary goal is assessing and meeting student needs here," he said.

Students who attended the meeting last night voiced concerns about the proposed center being substandard to the university's other three centers for diversity.

"Besides having no confidentiality and no counseling or advising center at all, the new center is not getting comparable faculty, staff and resources," said Lynn Thompson, co-director of Womyn's Concerns.

She said what they would really like is more resources for the new center.

"I think that will happen as resources develop," said Art Carter, assistant vice-president of the Office of Student Affairs and host of the forum. "There's been some interest to 'grow' a center. It's not going to be in its final form in the beginning."

The new LGBTA Student Resource Center will be located on the first floor of Boucke, and will replace the LGBTA Resource Room that is currently located in 328 Grange.

Presently, the resource room acts as a source of LGBTA information and education.

"We're sort of a clearinghouse for everything that's available for LGBTA students, faculty and staff," Solimini said.

The room provides students with videos, periodicals, a detailed Web site with appropriate links and Straight Talk, a class and volunteer speaking program that shares its members' coming out stories with various campus groups.

Solimini looks forward to the new opportunities the student center will provide.

"We're hoping it will be all that stuff plus more space. Plus, it'll be a little more visible," Solimini said.

The main changes that will occur will be a department change and an increased staff. The resource room is currently managed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity, but will move under the jurisdiction of Student Affairs after converting into the resource center.

This change will allow the center to independently sponsor more programs and events rather than just co-sponsoring.

"It's in a new student administrative unit," Johnson said. "They will be able to make their own decisions about programs, sponsors and staffing."

The director's position will also change from a part-time position to a full-time position.

Students at the forum also expressed concern about the ability of one full-time director to successfully run the center without the multiple staff assistants that the other three university centers for diversity employ.

"One person is not going to be able to meet all our needs," Jennifer Storm, social director for the Lambda Student Alliance said. "To start us off with such limited potential from the start is like a slap in the face."

Solimini stressed the importance of students going to the forums and continuing to share ideas and concerns with the university.

"This is a big step for the university and the concerns students want voiced," she said.