Safety for transgender college students needs to be a priority. According to Campus Pride's 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People, less than 7 percent of institutions of higher education have inclusive nondiscrimination polices with regard to gender identity and expression of transgender students, faculty, and staff. More than a third of all transgender students, faculty, and staff fear for their physical safety, and over half attempt to hide their transgender identity to avoid intimidation and harassment on campus.

On Feb. 7, 2012, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp rejected a student- and faculty-led proposal to adopt a gender-non-specific housing program. At the time national organizations like Campus Pride noted concern and displeasure at Thorp's decision and its failure to meet the safety needs of UNC-Chapel Hill's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) student population.

Read the rest of this commentary by Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer at The Huffington Post...

Joint statement from Campus Pride, National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality and Transgender Law Center outlines path forward for schools aiming to create safer, more inclusive campus housing options and residential life for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) and ally college students, has joined with the National Center for Lesbian Rights, National Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Law Center in issuing a joint statement calling on North Carolina colleges and universities to consider, adopt and implement gender-neutral and gender-non-specific housing options and residential life programs.

On Feb. 7, 2012, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp rejected a student- and faculty-led proposal to adopt a gender-non-specific housing program. At the time, Campus Pride noted our displeasure at Thorp’s decision and its failure to meet the safety needs of its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) student population.

“Thorp has said his school has yet to ‘adequately explain’ the proposed gender-neutral housing program to its ‘stakeholders off campus,’ but such an explanation is simple and straightforward: The first and foremost priority of any college or university should be the safety and education of its students,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride. “Our landmark 2010 research, ‘The State of Higher Education for LGBT People,’ shows that LGBT students are significantly more likely to experience harassment on campus. It is the sole responsibility of college administrators and staff to provide for the safety and inclusion of their students.”

UNC-Chapel Hill would have been the first public university in the state to institute a gender-neutral housing program, following in the footsteps of nearly 100 schools nationwide including nearly half of Chapel Hill’s peer institutions as well as three private schools in North Carolina: Duke University, Guilford College and Warren-Wilson College.

“Put simply, Chancellor Thorp is just wrong” said Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. “Thorp’s decision now puts UNC-Chapel Hill behind dozens of schools across the country that have implemented gender-neutral housing options. There is no state law that prevents gender-neutral housing, and most importantly, transgender students at UNC may continue to face unsafe living and learning environments because of Thorp’s decision. That is wrong, and Chancellor Thorp should reconsider his position.”

As news of Thorp’s decision spread across the state, several issues were raised at other UNC System campuses, including concerns that North Carolina colleges and universities are legally prohibited from offering fair, equitable and safe housing to LGBT students.

“Gender-neutral housing options are one important way universities are making their campuses safe and welcoming for LGBT students, including transgender or gender non-conforming students, who in some cases may not feel comfortable with a roommate of a certain gender,” said Ilona Turner, legal director for the Transgender Law Center. “There is no legal reason that North Carolina schools cannot adopt these common-sense policies.”

National Center for Lesbian Rights Legal Director Shannon Price Minter, Esq., explained the legal background:

“There is no North Carolina law that would prevent a university from providing gender-neutral housing for students who would like to have that option. Specifically, there are no laws about cohabitation that would prevent this.

“North Carolina has a couple of laws that prohibit cohabitation under certain circumstances, but they do not apply to gender-neutral housing in a university by any stretch of the imagination.  In addition, after the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003), those laws are also plainly unconstitutional.

“Only two laws in North Carolina currently address cohabitation. One has been found unconstitutional on the basis that it violates the 14^th Amendment due process rights established by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas (2003). The second, though unchallenged, would almost certainly be found unconstitutional. In addition, neither of the laws apply directly to gender-neutral housing on college or university campuses.

“In sum, universities and colleges in North Carolina are completely free to provide gender-neutral housing without running afoul of any law.”

The safety of LGBT students stands at the heart of campus programs and policies like gender-neutral housing. UNC-Chapel Hill Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp recognized the importance of such campus housing safety measures, telling WCHL 1360 AM, “My recommendation was to do it on a pilot basis that would engage some of the issues around safety and inclusivity that the proposal addressed…My commitment is to try to make sure we have an environment where everyone has an equal shot at success,” he says. “To me, that begins with feeling safe and included. There are segments of our community where we struggle, and this particular proposal is aimed at improving that.”

Campus Pride will continue to support the LGBT student community at the UNC-Chapel Hill and renews its call that this proposal be reconsidered within the year -- because it is the right thing to do for LGBT student safety and all students on campus.

Campus Pride further calls on all North Carolina colleges and universities to consider, adopt and implement gender-neutral and gender-non-specific housing options and residential life programs and join the nearly 100 schools across the country that have already taken steps to provide for increased safety and inclusion of LGBT students on their campuses and in campus housing.

Media Contact:
Matt Comer, Communications & Programs Director
704-277-6710, ext. 6. [email protected]

Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for LGBT and ally college students, is disappointed in the decision by administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in its failure to meet the safety needs of its LGBT student population by creating a gender neutral housing option, as reported by the university's student newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, last week. Colleges and universities first priority is the safety and learning of its students, not the stakeholders. In 2010, Campus Pride released the most comprehensive national study to date titled "The State of Higher Education for LGBT People." This national study reported that nearly a quarter of LGB people on campus encounter harassment. This percentage is even more alarming for transgender students and LGB students of color.

Campus Pride supports the UNC LGBT student community and asks for this proposal to be reconsidered within the year -- because it is the right thing to do for LGBT student safety and all students on campus. Please go online and view nationally what other leading LGBT-friendly colleges are doing to create safe learning environments with our Campus Pride LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (www.CampusPrideIndex.org). The Index is the premiere national benchmarking tool to help colleges become more LGBT-friendly in their policies, programs and practices. UNC Chapel Hill has not participated in the Index, which is free. Campus Pride encourages UNC to take the national research assessment tool to better understand the ways to create safer, more welcoming LGBT-friendly campus climates.

Campus Pride applauds the position taken by the student editorial board of The Daily Tar Heel and thanks them for their outspokenness on behalf of LGBT students at their university.

A round-up of national LGBT and progressive news, including...

• Campus Pride 'Top 12' Voice & Action leader nets State Dept. internships
• UNC chancellor rejects gender-neutral housing option
• SUNY Fredonia embarks on campus climate assessment
• Survey finds college freshmen more liberal
• Georgia's oldest HBCU gets first LGBT student group
• Canada's first fraternity for gay and bi men

Campus Pride 'Top 12' Voice & Action leader nets State Dept. internship

Greensboro College student Matthew Troy has accepted an internship for the summer of 2012 with the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. While there, he plans to work with U.S. groups that advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to help those groups expand internationally.

Troy also was offered an internship in the Office of the Secretary, but he chose the Bureau internship instead because he felt that position would let him do "more substantive work on projects and less 'busy work' to accommodate the executives."

In January, Troy, a junior from Mason, Ohio, was also named one of the Top 12 Student Leaders in Action by Campus Pride. He received that honor for guiding a group of students through the process of establishing Greensboro College's Gay-Straight Alliance. That process involved seeking the approval of officials not only at the college but also in the United Methodist Church. He also worked with students at other Greensboro-area campuses on assessing conditions for LGBT students.

He also was recognized on the basis of his scholarship and general campus service. He has a 3.8 grade-point average while double-majoring in mathematics and political science, with minors in humanities, ethics, and women's and gender studies. He has served as a residence advisor; leader of the student community supervisors for Village 401, the campus's main service organization; president of the student honors organization; Executive Treasurer of Student Government; and a member of Pride Productions, the college's campus-activities board. He designed a "get connected" program in which new students at Greensboro College fill out a survey and are contacted to get involved with student organizations immediately. He also recently redesigned the Student Government Association to expand from five to 29 leadership positions, covering every aspect of the college.

A member of the men's tennis team, he represents the student body on the Board of Trustees. As the college's representative on the N.C. Campus Compact Student Advisory Board, he led a team that made a presentation at the state conference, and a 15-page guide that he developed was sent out to more than 30 student leaders in North Carolina. He also is a student ambassador and fund raiser for the national anti-hunger organization Share our Strength.

In the summer of 2011, Troy worked as an intern at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he redesigned a leadership course for the Chief of National Training that is now a mandatory course for all FEMA supervisors.

-- compiled from release

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