On Wednesday, May 2, Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer presented a special online webinar discussing LGBT-inclusive college recruitment and admissions.

Campus Pride is offering you the opportunity to watch the webinar online for free. Click here to watch the approximately hour-long presentation.

About the Webinar: Gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk often touted: “We’re here to recruit you.” His comment was poking fun at the adage but yet in the same breath advocated boldly for greater LGBT visibility. Over the last few years, a growing visible population of LGBT youth have emerged for college recruitment and retention efforts. These out LGBT and ally youth want to find colleges that not only meet their academic needs but also provide a welcoming, safe, accepting environment. More and more colleges want to actively reach out to these LGBT youth and share their LGBT-friendly programs and services. Campus Pride provides an analysis of LGBT recruitment and retention trends and observations from its National LGBT-Friendly College Fair Program and its LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index . The webinar will also feature a panel of guests from some of the leading LGBT-Friendly colleges and universities across the country. Learn how your campus can recruit out LGBT students and provide retention services.

Take Action: LGBT-Inclusive Outreach Opportunities

Learn more about LGBT-inclusive outreach and recruiting opportunities for your college or university through Campus Pride's annual LGBT-Friendly College Fair Program. Running August through November, the fair will tour Charlotte, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas and New York City. Learn more and register at www.campusprideindex.org/events/.

The following is a guest post from Elvira Rajala-Wilk (pictured right), a graduate of Northern Michigan University and residence hall director for four years. She currently works at Ball State University. She considers herself an ally and LGBT issues are one of her passion areas. In addition, one of her favorite professional duties is supervising a group of student staff members charged with social justice and diversity education and advocacy.

In her post, Elvira takes us through some of the issues she's been faced with as LGBT students move into her campus' dorm rooms. She also discusses the importance of colleges and universities asking optional LGBT-identity questions on college admissions, residence hall applications and other forms, and why they are necessary for campus safety, inclusion and accountability.

To Ask or Not To Ask?

by Elvira Rajala-Wilk

At my institution, residence hall directors assign students to their rooms and, therefore, roommates. Every year I get a call from a parent who is inconsolably upset that his or her child is living with a gay. Usually they come upon this information via Facebook, because our housing application does not ask anything about race, religion or sexual identity. If we asked that question, I would have to explain to these ignorant-yet-loving parents that I knowlingly placed their baby with an LGBT roommate, which to them is a great evil. Well, actually, they “don’t have any problem with gay people” -- it’s just that they don’t want their son/daughter living with one.

Why would I open up myself and my students to that? At least now I get to hide behind the fact that I don’t know who is gay and who isn’t. I don’t have to make decisions based on that information because I am unaware.

Wait a minute.

I don’t have to make decisions based on that information because I am unaware.

I think this is commonly referred to as an “ah-ha moment.”

Why should we in higher ed ask about LGBT demographic information? It’s about awareness and not getting forgotten. That’s why the LGBT population should be counted on the U.S. Census. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” told people they have no right to be proud of who they are nor stand up for their rights. If we don’t ask, we can continue to assume our LGBT population is small and isolated and continue to treat them as such. Programming, goals and resources will continue to cater to the majority. Our LGBT population will know that we’re okay with them being here, so long as they don’t “rub it in anyone’s faces.”

Higher education professionals spend a lot of time talking about assessment. Being counted means having statistical evidence that supports the needs of a group and spending resources on them. If the board of trustees asks why money should be spent on a position for LGBT advocacy, the response can be “for this group of students right here” as they point to a sheet of paper sitting on the desk saying something-or-another percent of their student population identifies as LGBT. It can also be the argument to add it to resident advisor training, provide funding or office space to LGBT student organizations or create a support group in the counseling center. Even on a campus of 30,000 students, it’s hard to ignore a group of a few hundred students.

There are implications, though. One is that already-strained resources have to be further divvied up. But is it right for the majority to control more than their fair share? Also by asking, it can be assumed that the institution is supportive and has resources in place. To be ready, there should be a group, department or position available to ensure the campus community is reasonably safe, welcoming and supportive. Diversity and awareness programs should be implemented to educate the greater population. Residence hall staff need to be ready to prevent and respond to bias incidents and harassment for those living on campus.

I think the type of question is relevant as well. It’s not just “gay” or “straight,” but a spectrum.  A spectrum needs a unique set of questions to acknowledge the unique set of needs each individual has.  Bisexuality shouldn’t be considered a stepping stone on the way to gay, and that “T” in LGBT is a bit of a catch-all for a few different types of unique people.

I thought calling out LGBT students would put them in danger. Now I fear that by not asking we are inadvertently putting them in more danger; the danger of pushing LGBT issues under the rug and continuing to marginalize them. By asking the questions, it’s putting a message out there that says “You – as a whole person – matter.”

This is just me. This is just where I’m coming from today. I’m not discussing statistics or research, but the reasons why I think it’s important to ask questions about LGBT demographics on college applications. I think the things that are left in the dark are forgotten. I want to be able to shed some light on the LGBT population so they can have power and support, too.

Related Stories:
"Campus Pride welcomes University of California consideration of LGBT questions for incoming students" (Campus Pride Blog)
"To Ask or Not to Ask: LGBT Identity on College Admission Forms" (Huffington Post)
"Elmhurst makes historic move to include LGBT students in admissions application question" (Campus Pride Blog)

Today, Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer and Pennsylvania State University researcher Sue Rankin, Ph.D., an author of our 2010 "The State of Higher Education for LGBT People," are attending the annual conference of the American College Personnel Association in Louisville, Ken.

The two are presenting, "To Ask or Not to Ask: LGBT Identity Questions on National Research and College Forms."

It's a hot topic these days. Last year, the Illinois' Elmhurst College became the first American institution of higher education to include optional demographic questions on LGBT identity in its admissions application. Recently, The University of California announced it was considering similar questions on their Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) forms.

It's an important development on LGBT issues in higher education and one that Campus Pride believes will further efforts to create safer and more inclusive campuses for LGBT students.

As our executive director noted in our statement on the University of California news: "Colleges and universities are responsible for the education and safety of their LGBT students -- a school cannot provide necessary services or maintain proper safety and campus climate without first knowing who are the out LGBT students attending their school. Demographic questions asking students about their sexual orientation and gender identity will give university administrators the data they need to properly implement LGBT-inclusive policies and practices. Institutions should be held responsible for student safety, retention and academic success of every student -- the addition of identity questions finally make this possible for LGBT students."

If you're a faculty or staff member and unable to make it to the ACPA conference this week or if you're there but will miss Shane's and Sue's presentation, we hope you'll join us for our April 19 webinar on the same topic. Learn more about the webinar and others in our spring webinar series and register today.

Campus Pride praises the University of California Academic Senate annd Board of Admissions and Relations with Schools for their recommendation to allow incoming students to identify their sexual orientation and gender identity. (Read more via University of California's The Daily Bruin and CBS Los Angeles.)

The questions, which are planned to be optional, will allow university administrators and staff to more adequately prepare for and serve the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students on their campus.

"Colleges and universities are responsible for the education and safety of their LGBT students -- a school cannot provide necessary services or maintain proper safety and campus climate without first knowing who are the out LGBT students attending their school," said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. "Demographic questions asking students about their sexual orientation and gender identity will give university administrators the data they need to properly implement LGBT-inclusive policies and practices. Institutions should be held responsible for student safety, retention and academic success of every student -- the addition of identity questions finally make this possible for LGBT students."

Illinois' Elmhurst College is the only college or university in the U.S. to add similar questions to their undergraduate admissions application. The question was first asked last year in Fall 2011. Five percent of applicants voluntarily identified themselves as LGBT in the first semester of applications.

The LGBT demographic questions will appear on the University of California's Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) forms. The question was also recently approved to appear on forms within California's Cal State and community college systems. A dozen other colleges have inquired with Campus Pride about the addition of such a question and a number colleges in addition to the University of California system have also been reported as considering the question such as Duke University, Yale School of Law and Harvard University.

Campus Pride encourages University of California Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Lawrence H. Pitts to provide final approval for the addition of the question for the safety, responsibility and academic success of every student.

Illinois college first U.S. institution of higher education to ask students specifically about sexual orientation and gender identity on college admissions form

(Charlotte, NC) – Campus Pride, a national non-profit working to create safer, more LGBT-inclusive colleges and build future LGBT and ally leaders, is praising the decision by administrators at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Ill., to specifically include a question about students’ sexual orientation and gender identity in their college admissions application.

Elmhurst College, a private four-year liberal arts college, is the first U.S. institution of higher education to ask a demographic question about identity on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity on a college admission form. Their decision reflects a conscious choice by administrators at the college to actively include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students in the broader life of the college and its campus.

“The move by Elmhurst administrators to include this question represents a distinct and unique paradigm shift in higher education to actively recognize out LGBT youth populations and to exercise greater responsibility for LGBT student safety,” said Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride executive director. “For the first time, an American college has taken efforts to identify their LGBT students from the very first moment those students have official contact with them. This is definite progress in the right direction -- and deserves praise.”