Kansas Army National Guard
DAY IN THE LIFE
KANSAN.COM
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF: ROZE BROOKS
Colleen O'Toole // Kansas
Colleen O'Toole // Kansan Roze Brooks serves as the first openly gender non-conforming individual in their field of higher education and as a graduate assistant in the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.
LIFE COACH & MENTOR FOR LGBTQ+ STUDENTS
by Lara Korte
@lara_korte
"I'VE BEEN KNOCKED ON MY ASS PLENTY OF TIMES AT THIS POINT, AND THAT'S WHY I DO WHAT I DO." -ROZE BROOKS
Roze Brooks calls their office a "revolving door" of students.
As the first of several doorways in the hall of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, Brooks is at an easily-accessible location for people who want to discuss a new article they saw, receive some life advice or get their opinion on a new hair color.
As the first openly gender non-conforming individual in their field of higher education and graduate assistant in the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, Brooks provides an active and empathetic lense to problems faced by LGBTQ+ students on campus.
"I have to double-double-double up as a life coach and a relationship advisor and family counselor and as an academic advisor and all these other things, because it became clear
to me very quickly that a lot of my students I work with either don't feel comfortable or they don't know where to go or they've had bad experiences," Brooks said. "So they come to me."
For the past year, Brooks has worked in the Sexuality and Gender Diversity Center, often just called "The Center," to provide resources to LGBTQ+ students and educational programming for allies. One of their recent programs is a series of conversations called "TRANSlation" where students were invited to discuss and learn about issues faced by transgender individuals.
As an undergraduate at the University of Missouri Kansas City, Brooks said they had a positive experience helping create an LGBTQ+ group and organizing one of the biggest regional LGBTQ+ conferences: The Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference, or MBLGTACC for short.
As co-chair of the conference, Brooks said they developed strong relationships with administrators at UMKC and said they were able to basically turn around the relationship between queer students and administration on campus. Brooks said coming to the University meant coming to "an institute that functions radically differently."
"To realize that not everyone is in student affairs to change student affairs was not something I anticipated," Brooks said.
Murphy Maiden, a junior from Overland Park, said Brooks has tackled issues at the University not just by being an empathetic voice to confide in, but also by spreading ideas of acceptance and understanding across
campus.
"Not only are they creating these safe spaces for trans students to exist and discuss their identities, and be allowed to discuss them, and create safety for them, but they're also educating people who aren't necessarily part of those spaces on campus to create a more inclusive environment on campus and hopefully some self-reflectivity in students and staff and faculty who are not among the LGBTQ+ population on campus," Maiden said.
Furthermore, Maiden said Brooks has encouraged them to speak up in their own lives.
"Toze has been one of my mentors on campus who's really helped me to reveal myself on campus in terms of my own identity and being more open and more active and advocating for them," Maiden said. "Not only for myself but
for others whose identities I don't share."
After graduation this spring, Brooks said they will not remain involved in the University but has no intention of distancing themselves from advocating for queer college students.
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As for others at the University,such as some of their cohorts,Brooks said they hope they can come to realize there is work to be done in higher education.
"Hopefully, some of them, in the most lovingly way possible, get knocked on their ass and realize that they've got work to do, because I've been knocked on my ass plenty of times at this point, and that's why I do what I do, but there are other folks who still need that," Brooks said.
- Edited by Michael Portman
Master Sergeant Bartlett
Cell: (785) 633-0154
Email: keith.l.bartlett.mil@mail.mil
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