The Tulane Hullabaloo recently published an article about the unceremonious closing of the Q Spot, a historic sanctuary for LGBTQ+ students on campus. Upon reading this article, we found several factual errors and omissions. We are writing this letter to fill in these gaps in The Hullabaloo’s reporting. 

For starters, the title of the article is misleading. Contrary to what The Hullabaloo reported, the Q Spot was not “relocated to the Carolyn Barber-Pierre Center for Intercultural Life.” This framing suggests that the Q Spot still exists in a meaningful capacity, which is false. In reality, the Q Spot was closed in secret with insufficient communication to student leaders and zero attempts to notify the student body at large. It was then “replaced” with a public locker room that happens to contain meager scraps of the numerous resources and artwork that were once housed in the Q Spot.  

We understand that writing alone does not tell the full story, which is why our president had hoped to give more details in an interview requested by The Hullabaloo. Virtually nothing from that interview was included in the actual report. We do not know why this interview was barely included in an article specifically written about us and the Q Spot, which brings us to question why The Hullabaloo asked us for an interview in the first place. 

The article features quotes from Michael Strecker, assistant vice president for news and media relations, who claims that “student organizations using the Q Spot were contacted before the closures in August to make a plan for continued programming.” For at least a year prior to the closing of the Q Spot, vague renovation plans existed, i.e., knocking down the wall that separated the main seating area from a closet filled with clothing donated by and for community members. Despite multiple requests to both advisors and administrators, there were never any meaningful attempts to renovate the space and make it more accessible to those who used it. Since the inception of the idea, we have received little to no correspondence from whoever was supposedly in charge of renovations, save for brief speculations on when they were likely to begin. 

In July, QSA E-board members were instructed to remove our things from the Q Spot under the impression that renovations were going to start soon after. Upon returning to campus in August, we found that our splash card access to the Q Spot had been revoked, which is something we were never notified about. If this is the “contact” that Strecker claims we received before August on the basis of “continued programming,” then we denounce that claim as inaccurate. At no point was a plan for Q Spot relocation or continued programming discussed with us. If this plan actually exists, we ask those in charge of it to start corresponding with us. 

We received a brief email detailing numerous CIL updates for the coming semester, which mentioned that the Q Spot was “officially closed” with minimal details on who closed it or what that meant for us. However, this email was specifically sent during the first week of classes without any attempt to elaborate thereon or flag its importance. It was buried under numerous other contacts from the CIL, and we were not made sufficiently aware of what was happening during the flurry of information that accompanies the start of classes. We did not get full confirmation of what was happening until October, hence our open criticism from that point onward. 

We do not know why Tulane closed the Q Spot in secret as if we wouldn’t disclose that information to the public, as is our duty as student leaders. With that in mind, it should not fall on us to divulge concealed information about the future of LGBTQ+ student life. We have records of who has communicated with us about the Q Spot and who has not, and we will always address misleading coverage of QSA affairs wherever it occurs. 

We call upon Tulane to restore the Q Spot or provide a suitable alternative. 

Signed, 

Billy Bernfeld 

Abby Bix 

Indigo Ward 

Mary Ella Scroggie