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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
the student voice since 1960
DYLAN HEMBROUGH reporter
Transgender students of SIUE gathered at the Inclusive Excellence, Education and Diversity Hub March 31 to celebrate their identity and discuss issues related to the community. Tia Kimbrough, a graduate student in the higher education and student affairs program, said they hope to use events like this to increase the visibility of the transgender community on campus. “The importance is just being seen and knowing there is a community at SIUE that is part of the LGBTQ community,” Kimbrough said. “Walking around campus, you’re not going to be sure who’s part of the community and who’s not, so having these events to really be a community together and have fun …
CAMELA SHARP reporter
Assistant professor in philosophy, Susan Dieleman will be returning to her home country of Canada this summer after being offered a new position. Susan Dieleman said that though her experience at SIUE was greatly influenced by the pandemic, it’s been good. She will be teaching at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, beginning July 1. “I think we’ve done a fairly good job of seeing our way through to the other side of the pandemic and things are starting to feel a little bit more normal now,” Dieleman said. “I think aside from that rather significant blip, I think it’s been good. It’s a brand new kind of position. I think the opportunity is really exciting.” Dieleman said that though she is moving back to Cana-
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Thursday, April 13, 2023 Vol. 76 No. 25
exposes people to what we have going on.” Kimbrough said they hope to have more direct engagement with the student body, such as tabling in the MUC and cultivating interest in future events. Kimbrough also said the Hub would be working with the Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) and Queer Faculty and Staff Association (QFSA) to plan events for LGBTQ+ History Month this year. Stella Smith, president of the GSA and senior studying special education, agreed with Kimbrough on the importance of creating and maintaining a strong sense of community on campus among LGBTQ+ students. “You can scream it from the rooftops, you can put posters everywhere, but folks aren’t going to come out unless we prove to them that it’s a safe space,” Smith
said. “We can say that it’s a safe genderqueer or trans, and start to space, but until that’s experienced feel like I belong,” Mack said. everywhere, no one is going to Mack said they feel that gradtrust that.” uate students and other students M a r ia h who may Mack, who not come is studying through the for their MUC on a master’s dedaily basis We can say that it’s a gree in bimiss out on ology, said o p p o r t u n isafe space, but until they were ties to attend thankful for social events. that’s experienced events such “As a everywhere, no one is as this one, grad student where peoin biology, going to trust that.” ple can find I’m in Scifriends and ence West Stella Smith, President of GSA form lasting all the time,” bonds with Mack said. “I each other. never hear about events that go “I haven’t really built much of on here, because a lot of it, I feel a found family yet, so these events like, is advertised in the MUC.” are kind of a way for me to find Mack suggested adverpeople who are like-minded in a tising events on the television safe place, other people who are screens around campus, instead
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da where her family is, her new involved in selling a house and residence will be farther from buying a new house and moving them than before — she is ex- across the border and finishing cited for the new adventures up the semester here, making to come. sure the grades are in “It would always be on time and planning nice to be a bit closer to for the new job there.” family, but I’ve moved She said that there around a lot and across are a number of people continents, so I’m althat she’ll keep in conways actually excited tact with. for the adventure of “I’m sure I’ll keep trying someplace new, in touch with my colexperiencing someplace leagues in the philosnew, meeting new peoophy department,” ple, getting to know Susan Dieleman Dieleman said. “I was the place and stuff like Assistant also involved a bit with that,” Dieleman said. a community garden Professor of “It would be nice to here in Edwardsville, so Philosophy be closer to family, but I hope to keep in touch I’m used to exploring in far-flung with some of the folks there. I places.” was here for only five years, and Dieleman said that if there then two-plus of those years is a celebration, it will be nice were shaped by the pandemic, I and small. didn’t form quite as many close “It will probably be low relationships as I might have, so key though,” Dieleman said. there will be a few people for “Because there’s a lot of work sure, but I won’t have any strong
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ties to the area.” Christopher Pearson, professor and the chair of the philosophy department at SIUE, has been at SIUE for fifteen years. He said that Dieleman has been a great employee and has made great contributions to the department. “She’s been great,” Pearson said. “She was a really terrific addition to her department. She’s super productive, she is super conscientious, just making a lot of contributions in a lot of different ways to the department and her expertise is just really quite valuable.” Pearson described her departure as bittersweet. He said she is a great fit for her new position and the whole department is really happy for her. “The position that she has taken is extraordinary. It’s perfect for her expertise,” Pearson said. Pearson described her as an
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of centralizing posters and flyers in the MUC. Smith agreed, saying they feel that social media is underutilized for many events. Smith also said they feel it would be easier to foster a strong sense of community with more student involvement. “It’s nice that the Hub is open, but it’s not exactly a welcoming space to students,” Smith said. “It’s very clinical-feeling, so I feel like having a space that is more student-made … would make it easier to come in and not necessarily have to be the brave individual going in.” Kimbrough, Smith and Mack agreed that the event had a good turnout and hopefully served to create some of those friendships and bonds that could last a lifetime. For more information on the Hub, visit its webpage. GSA also has a webpage on GetInvolved.
old soul and said that she doesn’t need any advice. “She’s just so accomplished and she’s carved out this really great academic niche and been so successful in that niche that she knows what she’s doing,” Pearson said. “She doesn’t need any advice from somebody like me.” Pearson complimented her work and said that they are going to miss her for a lot of her contributions as a person and as a professor. “She understands what it is to both produce as an intellectual in an area of expertise and make contributions in that way as well as, share that knowledge and expertise with your students,” Pearson said. “When I said that we were going to miss her, we’re gonna miss her in a lot of ways. Personally, she’s a wonderful person too, but there’s just going to be a real gap. She was just such an asset.”
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