Last week students, faculty, staff and administrators gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the K.C. Potter Center, home of the Office of LGBTQI Life. The program included remarks and celebratory fellowship.

“This space is more than a symbol, it’s more than a gathering place, it’s more than a comfortable couch,” said Chris Purcell, director of the Office of LGBTQI Life. “It is a place where students find themselves and each other. It is a place where we have mourned and celebrated. It is a place where students, faculty and staff have debated, organized, shared memories and food together, and fully realized themselves in the context of their sexuality, gender identity and intersecting identities.”

The program also included a visit by the center’s namesake, K.C. Potter, Vanderbilt’s long-serving former dean of residential and judicial affairs who retired from the university in 1998. The center was named after Potter in 2008 to recognize his efforts to create a supportive and inclusive environment for LGBTQI individuals in the Vanderbilt community.

For more information on the K.C. Potter Center and the Office of LGBTQI Life, visit their website.