Think of a boisterous family living room bubbling with questions, arguments, teasing, and laughter. Except the family is made up of thousands from around the world. And the living room is at the center of campus. Welcome to the Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground.
According to its mission, the center advances community building through meaningful and creative shared experiences and provides a space for students to ask and be asked difficult questions about who they are and how they fit in the world.
It serves as headquarters for a variety of student enterprises: Brothers United, a community for underrepresented male students; Charcoal magazine, a publication for creatives of color; and the Queer Activist Collective (Q), a support and resource group for LGBTQIA+ students on campus. All embody the philosophy of acceptance and empowerment that Thurman (Hon.’67) promoted decades earlier as an influential civil rights leader and dean of Marsh Chapel, and which the University has absorbed into its ongoing diversity efforts.
One of Q’s notable efforts last year was the Gender-Affirming Product Program, which helped transgender, gender-nonconforming, and intersex BU students obtain gender-affirming products such as chest-binders, tucking underwear, and femme shapewear. With rates of suicide high among LGBTQIA+ youth, gender-affirming care has been shown to help reduce self-harm in transgender people.
“Social spaces like Q are so precious for people who don’t always feel welcome in other places,” says club president Sabi Liu (CAS’23).