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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 21, 2001)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- decamhar 21. 2ÛÛ 1 ' J u t ant j g l u i ] ; ì i ; ivi S i n e w s C utting off her hair was the most freeing thing Susan Prock ever did in her life. A M ulticultural W eb Trans woman leads sm all-town campus down a more inclusive path “I’ve always acted the way I’ve acted," she says. “But it gave me permission to be more myself.” Prock, who was working on a master’s degree in womens studies at Oregon State University, was divorced and had a daughter. Soon there after she got married again, and things started to make sense in her life. She took a class in women and sexuality and read Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues. She identified so strongly with the trans main char acter, she felt she needed to warn her husband. “1 said: ‘Gene, this could be bad for you. I think I’m transgendered,’ ” she says. His response was simple. “I’m pretty open,” Gene says. “I asked if she wanted a divorce, she said no, I said, ‘Then it’s OK with me.’ ” Then he adds, “One of the reasons I was attracted to Susan was because of her short hair.” After graduating, Prock applied for a job as m ulticultural center coordinator at Linn- Benton Community College in Albany. W hile still struggling with her identity, she attended the first interview in a dress. Calling herself her own best critic, Prock was certain she wouldn’t get the job. So when she was asked back for a second interview, she decided to do it her way. As she walked through the door to face the hiring committee, Prock was prepared for the looks, stares and questions concerning her suit and tie. But unbeknownst to her, she was walk ing into a haven of understanding. T he small-town com m unity college broad ly defines culture as a mixture of values, behav iors and beliefs linking a group of people by Heather Hybarger together. T h at allows the cen ter to serve not only ethnic d i versity but also sexual m inor- ities, w om en, the tim ber in dustry, different religions and n o n tra d itio n a l students. Student Life and Leadership director Tammi Paul-Bryant, w ho was in charge of the hiring com m it tee, says she Susan Prock promotes dialogue among students at Linn-Benton Com m unity sensed Prock’s College in Albany trepidation. “W hen she first came it was apparent when no t part of the criteria,” Paul-Bryant explains. Prock began her new job in September 2000. she had to go to meetings she was aware of people scrutinizing her.” She soon realized the college was true to its word. For Prock, th e suit and tie are no t only an “W hen I got there I was scared, running a expression of her gender identity but of her multicultural center, being visibly different," Prock professionalism, too. This was also som ething says. “But I received such an outpouring of sup the com m ittee was willing to understand. port, it was so awesome. The people on my hiring “W e were very clear about who and what we committee must have made this pact or something were looking for, and how Susan dressed was to look out for me and not leave me hanging.” T he more Prock realized her identity was a nonissue, the more comfortable she became with herself. She began to expand her own con cepts of multiculturalism as well. “If you look at oppression as a web, you don’t add one plus one plus one and get three; they interlock,” she says. “To me, it makes perfect sense to have culture as not tied to a person’s skin color or nationality.” She has found the students don’t need much encouragement to get into discussions about some of the toughest issues facing the world today. “It’s hard some days to go in there and make sure there is safety even though there is a Seventh-day Adventist, a Buddhist, a Christian, a W iccan, a lesbian who is still in the closet, a gay man who hates women, a weight-challenged person and a bald-headed white middle-class dude,” Prock says. “I have empowered them to stop someone who is saying something offensive and bring it to their attention. These people have some pretty heated discussions, and I have to figure out when I should intervene and when I shouldn’t.” It’s the dialogue that Prock encourages, because it’s the dialogue that is the most impor tant factor in reaching a place of understanding. T he students and staff and faculty who get involved in the center come away with skills that can be used across cultures of all types. “Empathy, sensitivity and understanding are skills that allow interaction whether you agree or disagree,” Paul-Bryant says. “We use these skills so that we can interact with each other in a respectful way.” J H H eather H ybarger is no longer a teen-ager, a student or a slacker but still finds time to lie around and do nothing. 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