Penn will soon be home to one of the nation's first college facilities dedicated solely to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Renovations on the 124-year-old Carriage House, the future home of Penn's LGBT Center, is set to begin within the week, aided by last fall's $1.5 million donation by two Penn alumni. The renovations will create new space for Penn's 16 student groups in the LGBT community.
"It is certainly one of the only, if not only, free-standing buildings on a college campus dedicated to this purpose," LGBT Center Director Bob Schoenberg said.
"It's definitely as large, if not larger, than any other center in the country," he added.
The LGBT community has long lamented the lack of space in the center's current office at 3537 Locust Walk, where it shares a building with the African-American Resource Center and the Management and Technology Program offices.
Scheduled to last about eight months, construction is set to be completed in late spring of 2002. Groups will move into the new building over the summer and a grand opening for the building is scheduled for Homecoming in 2002.
Over the summer, the building's internal structures were demolished, gutting it of everything except its support beams and floors.
From this point, construction plans include creating lounges and workspace in which LGBT and allied student groups can hold meetings, as well as space for the general student body to gather.
"Just west of the building will be a lovely terrace and garden, which will be a very pleasant space to sit and relax and have fun," Schoenberg said.
Other plans include a multi-purpose lounge on the ground floor and a reading room directly above it where the LGBT Center's directors say they hope students will come to study.
The $2.5 million renovation and restoration project received most of its funding from a gift by 1985 Penn alumni David Goodhand and Vincent Griski. In addition to their initial contribution of $1.5 million, the donors will continue to match all funds that the center raises itself up to $500,000.
This is the first such donation in higher education to directly benefit a LGBT community.
However, the center is still $200,000 short of its fundraising goal.
Leaders of LGBT and allied undergraduate and graduate student groups said they expect the center's new home to alleviate problems they have experienced in the past.
"Right now we're very cramped with all of our work-study students trying to fit in this space," LGBT Center Co-Director Erin Cross said. "We don't have space to store things, let alone people."
While certain groups like the Queer Student Alliance, Penn's largest undergraduate LGBT student group, have their own office space, other groups have found the lack of space inhibiting.
"As it is, we have meetings [in the current office] and it's ridiculous," said Heather Lochridge, founder and co-chairwoman of ALLIES, a group of typically heterosexual students who educate about and support LGBT issues.
"The meeting space itself will be a huge benefit," the College senior added.
The new building's multi-purpose room will be able to seat 60 for meetings, speakers and film screenings.
Students and staff say that the center will also benefit from the move to the west end of campus in Hamilton Village, where many undergraduate students live.
"It will be easier for students to access our services whenever they want it," Cross said. "As the center of campus moves further west, it's really important that we be there."
In addition to making the center more accessible to students, LGBT Center directors hope that the new site will help collaboration among Penn's LGBT and allied student groups.
Graduate student groups like Lambda Law see the move as an opportunity to be in contact with other graduate groups and undergraduate students.
"As a grad student I hope to be able to help younger students," said Susanne Salkind, one of the heads of the Lambda Law group.
"For students who may be coming out or in a period of questioning about their sexual orientation, it may be helpful to have older people around," Salkind added.
