After the initial success of the first part of the Safe Zone project, Phase Two has begun.

Phase Two is the distribution of key chains sporting the Safe Zone emblem, which is designed to show support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

The Safe Zone key chains are designed to be mobile, unlike the stickers, which could be difficult to remove from doors and walls. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Student Services distributed the key chains Thursday at a booth in the Memorial Union.

Stacie Kagan, coordinator of LGBTSS, said the purpose of the project was to try “to make the campus more inclusive and less heterosexist.”

She said Phase One of the project went incredibly well.

“As of the first of February, we’ve transported over 2,400 stickers. Even though when they first started it, they expected 300 or 400 to be requested,” said Kagan, graduate student in family and consumer sciences.

She said the Safe Zone stickers were targeted toward Iowa State faculty and staff members.

“Phase One was essentially meant as a way to indicate to students that faculty, staff and anyone who displayed the symbol was a safe person to talk to about their sexual orientation,” Kagan said.

“There’s definitely a heterosexist attitude at ISU,” she said. “[Safe Zone] provides an understanding that people are nonjudgmental and have an idea what some of the needs are of LGBT students.”

However, Kagan said there may be a negative side to Safe Zone stickers, such as when there is a disagreement about whether to post one in a shared office. Although the disagreement may create tension, she said “at least then it creates a dialogue.”

Kagan also said a stickerless office “may make the student wonder where the professor stands.”

But Kagan said one should be careful about jumping to conclusions as to why someone does or does not post a sticker.

Associate Dean of Students Houston Dougharty is the adviser of LGBTSS, and he agreed that the project has had many positive results.

“We get a lot of people who said, ‘I decided to get a job at Iowa State because I saw Safe Zone stickers up,’ [or] ‘I decided to enroll at Iowa State because I saw Safe Zone stickers up,'” he said.

Neither Dougharty nor Kagan is certain what will be the next step in the Safe Zone project, but Dougharty said LGBTSS wants to make sure that the Safe Zone emblem becomes a permanent part of ISU.

“Early on, some people said, ‘How many different stickers do I have to put on my door to make students feel comfortable?'” Dougharty said. “To which I replied, ‘As many as it takes to make them feel comfortable.'”