Or he’s being polite. Maybe heiscreeped out and doesn’t know how to respond otherwise. Oof.
The conversations naturally die down, and Magnus clears his throat. “I trust you’ve all had a good time getting to know each other?”
There’s not a single face without a smile. I sigh. Perfect. I love this.
“Good to hear,” Magnus says. “Tell me some highlights that you discussed.”
“Did you know they have their own social media app?” the man who had been walking with Brevan asked. He goes into an excited report on what’s in the app, though my students correct him a few times for clarity. It’s clear that Brevan gave him modified free rein of scrolling through the app.
The report receives eager questions. It’s clear that my students aren’t at all prepared for the level of excitement over the Pride Room. They glance at each other as they answer. Katai remains seated with a highly amused smile as she takes it in.
“Okay, we will definitely talk to Dr. Keller about the app,” Magnus says after a while. “What else?”
“They have some really great sports teams,” one of Magnus’ students volunteers. “They’re competitive in many sports and have a good reputation for sending their college athletes onto pro careers.”
“It’s difficult for us to support that kind of program since we don’t have many opportunities to compete locally,” Jöhanna says. “Especially not in a wide range of sports.”
“RDU has a retired pro hockey player for its ice hockey coach,” the same student says. “That’s so cool.”
“It is,” Magnus agrees. “We’ll see how the student body as a whole feels about putting extra time into expanding our sports program.”
“Not just the student body but the community as a whole. These students are already enrolled. We need the program to attract more students to make it sustainable,” Bjarni says.
“Yes, very true. Thank you. What else?” Magnus prompts.
“They have one of the topmost mathematical departments in the US,” another student volunteers.
There are many sidelong glances toward Zarek, which makes him raise an eyebrow.
“I might have bragged about you a little, Dr. Weaver,” Wendy says with a wide, innocent smile.
Zarek huffs his amusement.
“I think after listening to our RDU friends and what they went through before getting to RDU, and the kind of healing and safety RDU offers, I think maybe it’s important to see how we can replicate that here,” Helgi says. “This isn’t just about advancing þórðargleði University, right? It’s about becoming a sister school with RDU, and so much of that is their queernormative culture that gives those who need it a safe space to not only be themselves and find their strength, whether that be through healing and gaining confidence and finding theirvoice, or through a top-tier education. We need to create an atmosphere like that, too,” Helgi says.
“I agree,” both students who were walking with Brevan say.
There’s agreement all around.
“Katai? Want to talk about recruitment and what you do?” I ask.
Katai inclines her head. “First, I will say that I keep a very close watch on our keyword input. Idon’twant our school to be popping up on every college search, but very specific searches. Searches that are important—such as accolades for our sports teams or our academics.” She nods toward the student impressed with our hockey coach and then again at the one who was excited about our math department.
“But our priority isn’t recruitingeveryone. It’s recruiting young queer people who won’t necessarily receive the same education and fair treatment everywhere. The statistics on bullying in college toward our queer youth don’t actually decline between high school years and college. If nothing else, it shifts out of the range of childhood bullying into adult bullying, which can be worse. Our unofficial motto—the motto I personally work by—is that all people deserve an education by the top people in their fields, regardless of what makes them different from what the world would considernormal.”
“Normal is boring,” one of the Icelandic students says.
Katai smiles. “I agree. One of the programs I oversee, which is in constant growth, is making our community attainable for young queer people who don’t have the financial means to support a college education. Whether that’s because they come from a poor family or because their family has disowned them for being queer, or maybe they’ve lost their family—whatever the case may be—the sad truth is the list is very long and we’re working as hard as we can to bring in as many as we can and offer them the opportunities that RDU has available.”
“I like that,” Magnus says. “That’s one of the programs we’ve been talking about together.”
“Does Iceland have a large queer population in need?” Mercy asks, frowning.
“No,” Magnus says, shaking his head. “I mean for those outside of Iceland.”
“Do you use host families?” one of the Icelandic kids asks. “Is that how you accommodate an influx?”
“We don’t,” Katai says as she glances my way. “It’s been a discussion, but it’s not something we’ve actively worked toward yet.”
