KANSAN.COM
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FINALS GUIDE
Graduate student uses personal story to empower others
▶ LARA KORTE
@lara_korte
Roze Brooks is the Graduate Assistant in the Student Involvement and Leadership Center for The Center of Sexuality and Gender Diversity. Brooks serves as co-founder for Spectrum KU and are a member of the Campus Wide Student Advisory Board.
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN
Roze Brooks, a second-year graduate student studying higher education, is graduating soon, and like many others on campus, they are worried about their post-commencement job search.
However, during their presentation "The Z is Not Silent," part of the Office of Multicultural Affairs' "Last Lecture" series on March 25. Brooks said their fears do not stem from, for instance, the recovering economy or interview skills, but a lack of personal acceptance in their field.
Speaking in front of about 25 people in the Kansas Union, Brooks recalled a class early this semester where one of their professors asked students to line up in order of stressed to least-stressed about the job search. Brooks said they placed themselves as far to the "stressed" side of the room as possible.
"I didn't know how to explain that for two years, I have felt like a case study, like a resource tool, for my cohorts."
They said when the professor asked the students to share their thoughts and feelings on their stress levels, Brooks refrained.
Roze Brooks graduate student
"Because I wasn't sure how to explain that my stress was not rooted in whether or not I can get a job, but my stress was rooted in if I want to dive into a career path or into a field that doesn't know
what the hell to do with me," Brooks said.
Brooks, originally from St. Louis, Mo., is the first knowingly and openly transgender person to graduate from the higher education administration program. During their talk, Brooks spoke on some of their time and experience at the University over the past two years, both as a student and as the graduate assistant in the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.
"I didn't know how to explain that for two years, I have felt like a case study, like a resource tool, for my cohorts," they said. "I have felt like a barometer for my classmates for where they stand in social justice issues, as though I am a line drawn in the sand, and if you feel what I'm saying, you're on one side and if you are sick of hearing me speak, you're on the other."
After completing undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where they said they had a very positive experience, Brooks came to Kansas for graduate school with a "dire hope for direction," they said. Instead, Brooks said they found a climate of closed doors and hush conversations where their queerness was seen as a "generational nuance."
"I am currently in a place of unlearning," Brooks said. "Nearly two years of being conditioned to keep my head down, and my voice low."
"I am sure I made it sound like it has been a painful and challenging experience for me, but I have gained a deeper understanding of how I exist in the world, how I wish to exist in the world, and what work I need to do so those mean the same thing," Brooks said.
Yet, there have been silver linings to the cloud, Brooks said.
Murphy Maiden, a junior from Overland Park, said they appreciated Brooks' personal and it presented a "clear path" of how others in similar situations can navigate challenges.
"It allowed me to reflect on my own position and what that means in terms of what I want to do in the future, including Roze because we are close," Maiden said. "So really, this essentially was an invitation to analyze my own position, reflect on where I've been and determine where I want to go."
Cody Charles, associate director for Academic Enrichment Programs at the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said although he appreciates Brooks' willingness to share their personal insight, he thinks it is something that should not have to be required for change.
"It was invigorating and challenging, in the sense that, the level of vulnerability that someone has to give to move the needle as an educator—so all of these things that are personal, that you choose to share as educators to help move along the dialogue, and spark curiosi-
ty—is also a very challenging thing, because no one should be owed that." Charles said.
Brooks said their time at the University has evoked in them a need to be louder and to demand the space their students deserve. When they
leave in a few months, they said they hope they leave other students with a feeling of empowerment.
They have the same ability to talk to humans, and they have the same ability to get stuff done, to create spaces
to do the programs that I've done, that I'm not anything extraordinary, I just happen to be the one to say, 'Hey this is missing," Brooks said.
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