MSUM coordinator Arian Fossett describes identity centers, Smart Start program and need for sustainable funding

Arian Fossett, coordinator of gender and sexuality at Minnesota State University Moorhead, presented to the Moorhead Human Rights Commission about campus identity centers, student-support programming and the Smart Start onboarding program.

"My name is Arian Fossett. I'm the coordinator of gender and sexuality at Minnesota State University Moorhead," Fossett said. She described overseeing two identity centers (the Women’s Center and the Rainbow Dragon Center) and coordinating with other campus centers, including the George Soule American Indian Center and the Intercultural Center.

Fossett outlined services and recurring programs on campus — Safe Zone training, bystander intervention, Lavender Graduation and Rainbow Prom — and said identity-center work includes advising student groups and employing student workers. She described a ‘‘Rainbow Dragon’’–adjacent office layout and the emphasis on intersectional programming.

Fossett highlighted Smart Start, a pre-term onboarding program for BIPOC, LGBTQ, first-generation and income-eligible students. "We had 47 students go through Smart Start last year," she said, and added that Smart Start is grant-funded, which makes its continuity uncertain year to year. She asked the commission and community members to consider donations and collaboration to make such programs more sustainable.

Fossett accepted the commission’s HRC award, thanked colleagues and described a full-circle moment connecting with Brad Bachmeier, who created the awards and was Fossett’s seventh-grade art teacher. Commissioners praised the campus work and discussed potential continued partnerships.

The presentation emphasized student basic needs (food, housing, textbooks) and mental-health training as priorities for campus–community collaboration.