khristian kemp-delisser wanted a legacy. They planned to lead the LGBT Resource Center for a decade. They aspired to be the black, queer success story they saw too little of on campus.

Jan. 15 marked the end of their 22-month tenure as the resource center’s director. With their mother advancing in age, kemp-delisser needed to move closer to home in Connecticut to care for her.

“I personally didn’t have the resources to get home, the four-hour drive,” they said. “That really hurt me and underscored how far away from my family I was.”

They started this week at the University of Bridgeport as the first director of multicultural affairs — an office of one for now. The Resource Center at SU wasn’t much different when they took over in April 2018. There were no full-time employees in summer 2018.

The responsibility of hiring new staff fell on kemp-delisser. Now, the center has three senior staffers and six student staffers. Jorge Castillo, whom kemp-delisser hired as assistant director, currently serves as interim director.

kemp-delisser’s colleagues described them as committed to improving experiences for LGBTQ people, whether students or underserved city residents. They empowered the people around them to achieve their goals, and positioned the Resource Center to adapt to student needs.

“I was able to be able to observe people’s personal growth and comfort with their own identities and with their view on the world,” kemp-delisser said.

Annabelle Lee, the center’s graduate assistant, said kemp-delisser operated unlike any other supervisor she’s had.

When Lee wanted to expand outreach with SU Athletics, kemp-delisser sat down with her and talked through it. Last year, the center held a Pride softball game and offered safe-space trainings.

“They felt less like a boss and more like a teammate,” Lee said.

Lee told kemp-delisser she was interested in Title IX work. They advocated for her, and now she serves on the Chancellor’s Task Force on Sexual and Relationship Violence.

Berri Wilmore, a sophomore staffer at the Resource Center, wanted to expand the center’s gender-affirming clothing closet. kemp-delisser supported the idea and helped make it happen. On Wilmore’s first day at the Resource Center, she learned kemp-delisser was an SU alum. They talked for hours about the center’s history and the evolution of SU’s climate around LGBTQ issues.

“It was nice coming to work and someone who was always happy to see you and always smiling,” Wilmore said.

kemp-delisser’s work at SU was always personal, they said. As an undergraduate in the late 1990s, they and other students pressured administrators to create the center. kemp-delisser also helped select the center’s first director.

Much of kemp-delisser’s first year as director of the LGBT Resource Center involved moving from its longtime home on Ostrom Avenue to a temporary location in Bird Library. Daily Orange File Photo

Much of their first year involved moving the center from its longtime home on Ostrom Avenue to a temporary, but more accessible, location in Bird Library. The center now shares suite 548 with the Disability Cultural Center and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Another major project was adding the option for gender nonconforming students to change their name or pronouns in MySlice. kemp-delisser co-chaired the council that planned and ultimately implemented the feature. Student-facing departments, such as Housing, Meal Plan, and I.D. Card Services, have evaluated their services and policies to be more gender inclusive, kemp-delisser said.

Aley O’Mara, a doctoral student, worked with kemp-delisser on the council and on developing curriculum for the center’s Pronoun Competency Workshops. kemp-delisser appreciated others’ ideas and encouraged them, O’Mara said.

“They were partially responsible for founding the LGBT Resource Center in the first place,” O’Mara said. “To come back and to continue rolling the ball was something really special.”

kemp-delisser left many projects unfinished, including their work on expanding the pronoun feature to Blackboard and other programs. They are unsure if anyone will continue their efforts to expand engagement with queer alumni of color or their outreach to the LGBTQ community outside SU.

Lee said SU’s center stood out to her among other universities because of kemp-delisser’s work off campus.

kemp-delisser built relationships with Black Cuse Pride and SAGE Upstate, an organization focused on middle-aged LGBTQ people. They organized the center’s participation in Syracuse’s 2019 Pride Parade, and planned to build a pride coalition of nonprofits and local universities.

“When I reflect on my accomplishments, sometimes I feel hesitant to call them ‘accomplishments’ because there’s so much more I wanted to do,” kemp-delisser said.

kemp-delisser worries queer students of color may think they left because of the campus climate. The Resource Center director before them, Tiffany Gray, also left after a short period. Both kemp-delisser and Gray left to start offices at other universities.

kemp-delisser was proud to see queer students of color embedded within the campus protest movements Recognize Us and #NotAgainSU, they said. One of the center’s largest turnouts came from an event that happened to fall on the same week as the Barnes Center sit-in.

ALOK, a gender nonconforming performance artist, visited SU for the Transgender Day of Remembrance to do a meet-and-greet and performance. The Resource Center decided to bring them to the sit-in because they didn’t want to take students away from the protest. ALOK spoke with students and discussed organizing tactics.

kemp-delisser expected only a few students to attend ALOK’s scheduled performance later that day. To their surprise, the auditorium was “filled to the brim” with standing room only. Some people came from Colgate University to listen to ALOK, who discussed how oppression affects transgender people and people of color.

kemp-delisser credited the turnout to their work in the community. To them, ALOK’s visit symbolized how the center can serve students by amplifying their voices.

“I don’t feel like I didn’t do anything,” kemp-delisser said. “I just feel like I didn’t do enough.”

Published on January 29, 2020 at 10:25 pm

Contact Casey: casey@dailyorange.com | @caseydarnell_