Macquarie University Queer space under new management

The Macquarie University Queer Collective has recently lost managerial control over its Queer Space (a safe space for queer students to congregate and relax between classes) after the university’s Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion department took control over both it and the university’s Women’s Room.

Unlike other similar collectives at UNSW or USYD, the Macquarie Queer Collective is not a collective run by a student representative body and is not led by MQU’s LGBTQIA+ Student Representative, instead running as an independent club. Because of this, they do not receive the same protection or funding from the SRC that other queer collectives do. Combined with the lack of SRC involvement is the fact that Macquarie University does not have an independent student life organisation like Arc@UNSW or USU, meaning that the Queer Space is directly managed by the university itself.

In the past, the Queer Collective acted as intermediaries of the space, managing it and enforcing rules to keep the space clean and comforting for its users. However, in April of this year, the collective posted a story to their Instagram page stating that they had “effectively lost ownership of the space”, urging members to collect any personal belongings that had been left there, and adding that they were “really sorry that this has happened so suddenly” and that they were trying their “best to understand what is going on”. This post was followed by an announcement in the collective’s Discord server which implied that the reason they had lost control over the Queer Space was “due to some new university decisions”. This change occurred during the university’s session break and without the consultation of the collective’s executives.

This is not the first time a university’s management reaffirmed their control over a queer space. Earlier this year the USU and the University of Sydney restricted access to the USYD queer space during Mardi Gras in order to run a paid event in the adjoined Manning Bar, stopping Queer Action Collective members from entering the space.

Recently more details on the situation came to light, including the fact that the collective no longer had the jurisdiction to enforce their rules in the space and that the university “made [them] take the rules down”. The Queer Collective also lost the right to decorate the space, something that had previously been understood to be part of their management of the space. When contacted by Noise, the Macquarie Queer Collective stated that, "There is definitely a marked difference in the occupation of the room since the change in management. The room has been sanitized and made more ‘palatable’ but it has lost a lot of the charm that we had embeued it with. The university will have to take their own measures to improve the usage of the room if they want to see an improvement."

When asked about why the collective believed the change in management had occurred they stated;

“The university reclaimed ownership over the space as a part of their efforts to improve the management of the student groups. As an independent club, QueerCo and WoCo were the only clubs to have a dedicated space on campus. There was also a potential for misunderstanding the purpose of the room as a safe space for all students, regardless of their membership with the collective. There have already been signs of management issues affecting other groups since at least last year, so I'd say it's more than just about us. The university is working to separate the room from our group so that the room can be more effectively used as a safe space on campus and not as a clubhouse for our group”.

We reached out to Macquarie University Student Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for comment but did not receive a response.