For Van Bailey, assistant dean and director of the Office of Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Education and LGBTQ+ Resources at George Mason University, his work is personal.
As a Black trans person, Bailey (he/they) identifies fiercely with the concerns of the students he helps.
“It’s very important to me to be the type of person, the type of leader I never had,” said Bailey, who is also a nationally recognized educator, speaker and diversity consultant. “I want the students to feel seen and heard and represented for their cultures and identities, not only to be celebrated but to have equitable resources and an equitable experience for their identities.”
So Bailey dives in every day and supports students from multiple communities—LGBTQ+, Dreamers, First generation—whose needs cross a wide span in the areas of access and representation: access to funding and mentors, and representation in the forms of acknowledgment of they and their pronouns institutionally.
The challenge, Bailey said, is that no group on campus is monolithic.
“But our areas have common themes around equity and social justice and gender justice and emotional justice,” Bailey said. “What I mean by all those things is that people should have equitable opportunities to be able to see themselves.”
“We are all part of a global community,” he added. “So things that are happening in the news when we’re talking about police reform and police brutality, our students are not far removed from that. These issues are certainly contextual and definitely connected to student experiences.”
For that reason, all groups should be allies, Bailey said.
“As a Black trans person, I still have to show up for other communities regardless if I experience multiple marginalizations or not,” he said. “It’s very important to me because I’m part of so many of these communities.”
Join Mason’s Lambda Alumni chapter for a Pride Trivia Night, June 30, 5-6:30 p.m., via Zoom. Register here.