The UCLA Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center
dedicated its new library on Friday to a woman whose relationship
with the university spans decades.
Rae Lee Siporin, former director of UCLA admissions and
co-founder of the UCLA LGBT Faculty-Staff Network, was recognized
for her impact on the university’s LGBT community, an effect
many say is still experienced today by students and faculty.
The library, a small, bright room inside the LGBT center, is
lined with bookshelves, filled from floor to ceiling with a wide
array of over 4,000 volumes. Rainbow flags cover the windows while
still letting plenty of light through, and Oscar Wilde, a
well-known gay writer, overlooks the library from his painting on
the wall.
Books, videos and journals in all genres are available to all
students and faculty.
Many were there to honor Siporin, the woman who held the first
meeting of what is now the LGBT Faculty-Staff Network at her house
on May 7, 1989.
The organization is dedicated to “the interests and
concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender faculty and
staff of the UCLA community by social, educational and political
means,” according to the center’s Web site.
“I am overwhelmed by Rae Lee’s generosity to us and
her continuing support of UCLA,” said Janina Montero, vice
chancellor for student affairs, at the ceremony.
Siporin, who retired in 2001, is most notable for her 22-year
tenure as the director of undergraduate admissions and relations
with schools, the longest of any admissions director in the
country.
Over the course of those 22 years, Siporin admitted close to
250,000 students, according to the center’s Web site.
“She probably rejected a lot more,” joked Peter
Hayashida, assistant vice chancellor of external affairs, a former
UCLA student and now a friend of Siporin.
“A library is a fitting tribute to Rae Lee. This campus is
a better place with her calling it home,” Hayashida said.
State Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, the first openly gay
person elected to California state Legislature, a UCLA alumna and
longtime friend of Siporin, was also on hand.
“A library is a very important thing. It’s a place
where people can go freely to get information, to dream, to make
connections. (The UCLA LGBT library) is the largest LGBT library in
the country, and it’s only going to grow,” Kuehl
said.
Kuehl also spoke about the importance of student diversity, its
effect on shaping the campus and the importance of each incoming
freshman class in this equation.
“There’s no one more important than the person who
selects admissions to our campus,” she said.
The event also brought together a community of friends and
colleagues who shared in the dedication.
Al Aubin, co-founder of the LGBT Faculty-Staff Network and
associate director of the UCLA Career Center, and Curt Shepard,
co-founder of the UCLA LGBT Center, spoke together about their
relationship with Siporin and about the center as a realized
dream.
Aubin said the dedication marked a momentous occasion for him,
because it was the first time he, Curt and Rae were in the center
together.
Siporin spoke at the end of the ceremony, sharing memories and
speaking about the library’s significance to the LGBT
community.
“Just as coming out is important to us as individuals, our
history and our stories need to be visible as well. The library is
a crucial part of coming out,” Siporin said.
She also spoke about her appearance in the Daily Bruin a year
ago, on National Coming-Out Day.
“Coming out in the Bruin was important because students
needed to know that you could be successful if you weren’t a
heterosexual,” Siporin said. “They needed a positive
role model.”
Siporin expressed gratitude and pride in the dedication of the
library, and hoped for its success in its future.
“May this be the biggest and the best library of its kind
and continue to be, befitting the best university anywhere,”
she said.