Reflecting on Progress

By Patrick Bohn, May 4, 2023
Rainbow Reception honors LGBTQIA+ community at IC.
Students on Stage

During the Rainbow Reception, dozens of students were given rainbow cords and stoles to wear during Commencement.

(Photo by Patrick Bohn)

During the Rainbow Reception, dozens of students were given rainbow cords and stoles to wear during Commencement.

(Photo by Patrick Bohn)

As Luca Maurer, director of Ithaca College’s Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services, stood in front of dozens of students, faculty, staff, and allies in Emerson Suites at the annual Rainbow Reception, he recalled how the event was the realization of a dream begun more than two decades ago.

“The Rainbow Reception began 22 years ago, and that first year, there were only about a dozen people attending it in the Tower Club,” he said. “It was always a dream that we would need to be in Emerson Suites one day, and we’ve outgrown our physical space so much, that here we are.”

The remarks were met by cheers and applause by the audience, who had come together to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community at IC. Students, faculty, and staff were invited to share their personal stories, and graduating seniors and graduate students were presented with rainbow cords and stoles.

Students wearing rainbow stoles

Lochlyn Hejl ’21, DPT ’23 (left) and Alexa Powell, ’21, DPT ’23 were given silver stoles in honor of receiving their graduate degrees. (Photo by Patrick Bohn)

It was fitting that Maurer’s opening remarks drew on the origins of the event, given that it was the last Rainbow Reception he’d be presiding over. This past March, he began a new position as the incoming Executive Director of Student Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, in the college’s newly established Center for Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. With more than two decades of Rainbow Receptions under his belt, he handed the reins of the ceremony to Grace Dosdall, the first Pride Fellow in the Center’s history.

Dosdall shared a story of organizing a similar ceremony at the State University of New York at Buffalo, spoke of the history of the LGBTQIA+ community and the individuals and straight cisgender allies who have spent decades advocating, and of the work that still needs to be done.

“No special awards this year celebrating one or two of you for your commitment to equity,” she said. “Instead, a call to action. This ceremony celebrating you is a revolutionary act, and I hope I can count on everyone to be a part of the hard work that lies ahead.”

Following the remarks, students were invited on stage to receive the cords and stoles they will wear at the college’s upcoming Commencement. In addition to looking forward, the evening was also a chance to reminisce.

“You matter to me, you matter to each other, you matter to the world. Go out there in the world and make it a better place and take care of each other out there. It’s a big, wide world, and that world will be all the better because of you.”

Luca Maurer, director of Ithaca College Center for LGBT Education, Outreach and Services,

“If you told me four years ago that this would be my experience in college I wouldn’t believe you,” said Connor Watson ’23. “This event was another way IC makes me feel supported. To be here and know there are staff members like Luca sharing it with us made me feel invincible.”

“I was learning my own identity throughout college, and this was a time to celebrate that,” said Megan Handley ’23. “I feel very recognized in that today.”

The words to close the ceremony, fittingly, fell to Maurer, and his poignant remarks summed up the evening perfectly.

“You matter,” he told the crowd. “You matter to me, you matter to each other, you matter to the world. Go out there in the world and make it a better place and take care of each other out there. It’s a big, wide world, and that world will be all the better because of you.”