Faculty brat Benjamin Davidson used to walk past the Old Fire Truck House on his way to the CoHo to order his favorite chocolate-mint soda. The son of physiology professor Julian Davidson, young Ben grew up on campus, graduated from Palo Alto High School, then crossed the mountains to study dance at UC-Santa Cruz. After working with a professional troupe, he earned a PhD in sociology at Brandeis University, where he also designed and taught in interdisciplinary programs involving gay and lesbian issues.
Last September, the 37-year-old Davidson returned to Stanford and climbed the outside stairs at the Old Fire Truck House to the door of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Community Center. His arrival was a piece of personal history and a giant step for the center: he is its first full-time director.
The 28-year-old center is in a growth phase today, with an unprecedented student membership of about 200, plus 450 registered alumni. Davidson says he wants to build alliances and co-sponsor events with other community centers on campus and also ensure that his center is a place where students feel safe to ask questions.
It is difficult to estimate how many students may be served by programs the center sponsors in dorms and with other community centers, he says. "Because of students' discomfort as they question their sexual identities, many are not willing to come to the center -- like many lesbian and gay alums who have told me they walked by the [Old Fire Truck House] door several hundred times during their four years on campus and never quite got up the nerve to set foot inside." Davidson's advice to today's students: climb those stairs.
