C A M P U S HI S T O R Y
FORTY YEARS OF ACTIVISM + SUPPORT LGBTQ + INI T I AT I VES
This year marked the 40th anniversary of the origin of the Ten Percent Society, which was the first gay rights organization in North Dakota.
Dr. Jeff Maliskey, the University’s Director of the Pride Center, focused on that history in his doctoral dissertation. UND Today sat down with him to talk about the changes in the campus climate over the past four decades. Tell us about the Pride Center and your work at UND.
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We support students from the moment they step on campus, all the way up to graduation and getting jobs. And there’s a long history of firsts:
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UND was the first to have a recognized LGBTQ student group in the state of North Dakota. We’re the first of any college or university in the state to have a physical space, the Pride Center, dedicated for LGBTQ students. We’re the first to hire a full-time staff member whose job is to support LGBTQ+ students. And I’m pretty sure we’re the first to implement chosen names and pronouns in our campus onboarding. We’re probably the first to offer ally training as well. UND is a flagship institution, and we’re setting those trends for higher education. We’re
also the first to hold a Pride Week during Pride Month, I believe. A big piece of my job is programming and creating educational opportunities for students. I do presentations in classes, work with student organizations and work with systems on campus. Student retention is another important piece. What do you love most about your job? I came from the housing world, so I’ve always gravitated toward student affairs. I love being engaged and helping students. I got more involved in diversity and inclusion work later, and continued as a graduate student, and now I do it full time. My work is really rewarding, and I can see the positive change we’re making on campus. It keeps me motivated. How has the Pride Center evolved? What is its impact? The Pride Center used to be tucked away in a corner on the second floor of the old Memorial Union. Today, we’re part of Diversity & Inclusion in the new Memorial Union. This fall, the Pride Center became a standalone
department. It’s a comfortable space for students to hang out. They can hold events, have meetings, lounge, take a nap. It’s their space. The Ten Percent Society and the students advocated for the Pride Center. They wanted a space where they could be authentic and be themselves, to come together as a community without judgment. They wanted to feel safe and have that sense of community and belonging. We know students who feel connected do better academically, and that part really was missing for LGBTQ students before 2017. Tell us about the history of the Ten Percent Society on campus. There’s a lot of history just behind the name itself. The Ten Percent Society took that name in 1996, but the first organization at UND was founded in 1982 as the UND Gay Community. It was really revolutionary at the time because there was no LGBTQ organization in the state of North Dakota. UND was the first institution to recognize an LGBTQ group. The name has changed a few times, and this year it changed to become the Queer & Trans Alliance to be more inclusive.
We’re celebrating the 40th anniversary because it’s the same organization at its core. The fact that the organization has endured more than 40 years is pretty significant. They’re still going, and there’s still a need. Even through the pandemic, we averaged about 20 members at our meetings on a regular basis. How many members are in the Queer & Trans Alliance? Can you talk about outreach and the impact of the organization? We have about 20 members. National data tells us that
roughly 17 percent of college students identify somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum. If you apply that to UND’s roughly 14,000 students, that’s just over 2,000 students who identify. It’s not a huge number, but it’s pretty significant. We know the students are out there. They might not be involved specifically with the Queer & Trans Alliance. Maybe they’re finding other ways to get out and connect, or they’re just more intensely focused on their studies. But the students promote the organization and let other students know there is a
