LGBT Center gets a 'Cybercenter'

When Bob Schoenberg started working at Penn's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center in 1982, a student in Gregory College House had just been beaten up in a violent incident of homophobia.

Yesterday afternoon, as the LGBT Center officially opened a state-of-the-art "Cyber Center" in the Carriage House on Spruce Street, Schoenberg, now the director of the organization, said Penn had made great progress over the past 25 years.

"This is a much more accepting place," he said.

Built during the summer, the David Bohnett Cyber Center includes eight new workstations, a printer and a scanner. It also provides wireless capabilities for the entire LGBT Center.

"Students can always use more computers," said Wharton freshman Dennie Zastrow, who works at LGBT Center. "The Cyber Center will be a great place to get work done."

Provost Ron Daniels joined about 30 students, faculty and representatives from the Bohnett Foundation to introduce newcomers to the resources available at Carriage House and celebrate the opening of the Cyber Center.

Funding for the $30,000 Cyber Center came from the David Bohnett Foundation, which was started by David Bohnett, creator of the GeoCities Web hosting service.

Michael Fleming, executive director for the Bohnett Foundation, said Penn's support of its LGBT community caught his attention during the application process.

"We foster community through technology, and Penn really stands out in providing a great physical space for LGBT students," Fleming said. "This is a beautiful and accessible site, and we know these computers will be used by students."

Penn got a perfect score for gay-friendliness from the gay-interest magazine The Advocate in a book released last month.

Felix Perez, who graduated from the School of Social Policy and Practice last year, helped secure funding by creating the grant proposal.

"I was an intern at the LGBT Center, and I had to write a grant proposal for school," he said. "We decided to submit a real proposal for actual funding, so it's really nice for me to see something that I worked on for a long time come to fruition."

A portion of the grant money will also go toward setting up a confidential chat-room service to help LGBT students, Schoenberg said.

"Graduate students will moderate the chat rooms, counseling students who are thinking of coming out and offering more privacy than any University-supported chat room could," he said. "People still feel closeted, and this is a way to reach out to them."

At the ceremony, Daniels said the Cyber Center will allow Penn to become a more tolerant and accepting community.

"The idea of Carriage House speaks passionately of tolerance," Daniels said. "It's exciting to see how the Cyber Center will help extend these ideas. Equality is deeply rooted in this campus, but there is still more to be done."

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.