Nestled away on the fourth floor of Schmitz Hall, between the paper-pushing offices and cubicles, is a casual room lined with soft couches and a more-than-modest library.

The Q Center ­— which stands for ‘queer’ or ‘questioning’ — is a place for guidance, support and community, primarily for university students, faculty and staff who identify with or are questioning an alternative lifestyle.

Wen Liu, a senior at the UW and a Q Center staff member, does not usually use the term “alternative lifestyle,” but associates it with people who feel they have a non-normative or questioning way of life.

“People just [see] queer people as sexual, not sexual identity,” Liu said. “[It’s] not just about who you have sex with.”

In attempts to transform faulty assumptions, like the queer community’s association with sex, the Q Center, which opened in 2004, holds programs and events to clarify the misconceptions.

In particular, the Safe Zone Project helps faculty and staff confront their innate “internalized homophobia/heterosexism,” which the Q Center Web site states most people have.

The Safe Zone Project’s goal is that, through education, the campus can become a place of safety for students and colleagues to talk openly.

Q Center staff members work to reach beyond the four walls of their offices, planning events that incorporate people within and outside the UW community.

This week is Ally Week, an annual week of activities sponsored by the Q Center that is “designed to celebrate allies and the LGBTIQueer people they support,” according to the Center’s Web site.

“It’s a week of fun, education, and community building meant to teach and encourage people to be allies against anti-LGBT oppression,” according to the Web site.

Another goal of the Q Center is to involve others in the coalition for a more diverse campus.

Andrew Bussman, a senior finishing his bachelor’s degree in social work at UW Tacoma, drives to Seattle to complete his internship at the Q Center.

“It’s an awesome place just to learn and hang out,” Bussman said. “It’s a place to get connected.”

When at the Q Center or working with Q Center staff, people can expect to learn more about themselves with the safety of anonymity, said senior Eric Vernon-Cole.

“We want more people to know about the space, but at the same time it’s anonymous,” Vernon-Cole said. “Ideally, it’s for the alternative lifestyle. But it’s definitely open.”