Last week, it was announced that Texas Christian University would create a DiverCity Q Living Learning Community for LGBT issues within the campus housing options. Eight students had already committed to the housing program. The "Living Learning Community" concept has been a successful model at many other colleges and universities across the country. The program supports diverse student populations as well as provides a meaningful way to learn within a living learning community atmosphere. Such communities have been developed around religious issues, ethnic/racial minorities, academic disciplines, athletics, international students, foreign languages, etc.

After the decision was announced last week, TCU received praise and controversy surrounding the decision to extend the current living learning communities to also have DiverCity Q. Today TCU Chancellor released this statement:

"TCU will not launch any new living learning communities at this time," TCU Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Jr., said in a statement. "Instead we will assess whether the concept of housing residential students based on themes supports the academic mission of the institution as well as our objective to provide a total university experience."

In reaction to this news and change in decision, Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer released this official statement, as follows:

Twitter was abuzz this weekend with a calamity over what an Amazon sales rep called a "glitch," but others are responding might be a general heterosexist misunderstanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender concerns. What happened? Amazon.com recently began removing titles with what they deem "adult content" from their book rankings. This so-caled "adult content" includes, among other things, books featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and even feminist ideologies or images. You can find responses to the dilemma below:
Why Is Amazon Removing The Sales Rankings From Gay, Lesbian Books?
Amazon Says Glitch to Blame for "New" Adult Policy
You say glitch, we say fail!

SAN DIEGO, CA, April 13, 2009 – This Saturday, April 18, Campus Pride hosts its second annual West Coast LGBT-Friendly College Fair at the San Diego LGBT Community Center, 3909 Centre Street in San Diego, CA. Nearly thirty colleges and universities from across the country will be in attendance from 1 p.m.to 4 p.m. to recruit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally prospective students. Free of charge, any interested students and their families are welcome.

"Finally, colleges are coming out of the closet and being visible in the recruitment process to seek LGBT students,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director of Campus Pride, the leading national nonprofit for LGBT students and campus groups and author of The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. “Today campuses want to be considered LGBT-friendly. It is not only in the best interest of enrolment figures but also a necessity to prepare for a smaller, more diverse student population in the future.”

According to Windmeyer, an increasing number of colleges and universities are openly recruiting LGBT students and are doing so for the first time ever. Nearly thirty colleges have registered to date for the upcoming LGBT-friendly college fair sponsored by Campus Pride. In addition, over 185 colleges and universities are reaching out to LGBT students through the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org). The national index, the only resource of its kind, is a dynamic online tool which rates LGBT-friendliness at colleges and universities as well as sets a national benchmark for campuses to become safer, more welcoming for LGBT and ally people. Any campus may take part in the college fair program or the index at anytime.

Greetings! I'm a bit behind my Campus Q Team buddies on posts, but I've been swamped with writing my theses and working on the University of Florida's Pride Awareness Month celebration. I just wanted to share a bit about myself with you all; I'm not all that interesting, I don't think, but I'd also like to believe I'm not all that boring, either. =P

So this is me. I'm a 4th year Women's Studies major with a concentration in Theories and Politics of Sexuality and a minor in Religion at the University of Florida. I graduate in three weeks! ... and I have no job lined up! *sad face*. Its a tough time for job searching, but if you're queer and looking for jobs over the next year, definitely be sure to use Out for Work's resources for job searching (I used to work at UF as a "Career Ambassador"... I love this kind of stuff). Their next college student career conference is coming up:
2009 West Coast Regional
OUT for Work LGBTQA College Student Career Conference
April 17-19, 2009 at UCLA

So we had our meeting Wednesday, and two members of a Christian student organization showed up. It was wonderful. They were very respectful, non-judgmental, and they invited us to a picnic along with another LGBT org, and we hear that they may be inviting other student organizations in general, so luckily this time nothing negative happened.

In preparation to avoid any negative circumstances, our E-Board decided to make this meeting "Closing the Circle". For our organization, at the beginning of the year we do "Crossing the Line" and advertise it to get as many people as possible there, and then a moderator reads statements of identity such as "I have or have had an eating disorder" or "I identify as a person of color", and people step forward as they feel it applies to them, then those who have crossed the line are given a chance to speak, typically encouraged to make their statement "I never want to hear..." and whatever they would like to fill that with. For Closing the Circle, we do not advertise so that it is only those members who have been active in our organization over the past year, and it is a silent activity, meant more for personal reflection and quiet contemplation. We did it at the meeting when the Christians came largely because it is a silent activity to discourage any outbursts or anything of that sort, and for them to see who we are... more than just gay or heathens or however we may fear being seen, but rather as everything we are as people... and a lot of us had things in common with the two who came to our meeting. For me, I was excited to see one of them step forward for "I am an ally". I'm not sure he knew what it meant in the LGBT sense, but even the fact that they participated with us was encouraging.

Congratulations to student leaders at Texas Christian University (TCU). TCU will provide theme housing for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues and is the first Texas college to do so. Campus Pride encourages colleges and universities to consider LGBT theme housing/communities as a way to support LGBT and ally students and ensure a safe living environment on campus.

Campus Pride is quoted in the Dallas Morning News article titled "TCU to provide special housing for gay, lesbian students" by Holly Hacker on Tuesday, April 7, 2009.

EXCERPT:

Texas Christian University offers special housing for students interested in world affairs. The environment. Foreign languages. And, starting this fall, gay and lesbian issues.

TCU is apparently the first campus in the state to reserve housing for gay students and straight students who support them. And that's earning kudos from advocates for gay students.

"It just basically says that TCU wants their campus to be safe for all students and wants everyone to feel welcomed," said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride. The nonprofit group supports gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender college students.

Read the full article online at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/040809...

So, update on my campus religious organization issue.

Quick recap: My campus's Christian organizations have recently been mobilizing- confronting non-Christian individuals on campus and challenging their beliefs, closing their doors to questioning students (only allowing in affirmed Christian students), and most concerning to my position questioning LGBT students on campus and trying to "save" us.

Most recently, the leader of a group on campus asked our President when our next meeting is, and after she told him she asked if he wanted time to speak at the meeting or what we could do for him, and he said he just wanted to "show up". One of our students was told that this person and some of the students in his organization are going to come to our meeting and pray over us. Well, we notified our advisor and she went to the director of student activities. Our initial plan was apparently to allow them 3 minutes at the beginning of our meeting to lead us in a prayer and hope that they made them happy. Now I'm going to preface this by admitting that I have some pretty "atheistic" views. I put that in quotes, because I'm not necessarily anti-beliefs, or an anarchist like some would associate with that term. Simply put, I don't believe in any sort of higher power, and I don't like those views being forced on anyone who doesn't seek them out. I think it's fine to have a personal belief system, and to share that with like-minded individuals... but persecution is definitely outside my "things that are OK" zone. So I kind of went crazy. I told our advisor in our meeting that there was absolutely no way we should allow them in our doors, no less allow them to pray over us.

Hey everyone! It’s my turn to let you know a little bit about me. Sorry for the delay; it’s the end of the school year where I am and things are a little bit crazy. My name is David and I am a second year student at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. I am double majoring in Communication Studies & Gender / Women’s Studies, and double minoring in English & Nonprofit Leadership. Believe me, that sounds a lot more impressive than it really is - that’s why I like it! I plan on working in the LGBTA community, hopefully with a national organization doing media work (hint, hint GLAAD! ;). At my school, I’m the new president of our LGBTA student group OUTspoken and for the past year I’ve been their secretary. I have also been involved with our LBGT Student Services office as a panelist and facilitator in our speakers bureau, SpeakOUT. In addition to both of those, I’m a tour guide and “telecounselor” (meaning I call prospective students) as part of WMU’s awesome Student Ambassador Program. I do a LOT of LGBTA “stuff” as I like to call it, and starting in June I’m going to be an intern with Michigan Equality working on the human rights ordinance battle here in Kalamazoo (more info here on that and I guarantee you I’ll rant about it once May comes). I pretty much devote all of my time to LGBTA stuff, my classes, and my job as a Student Ambassador. I’m one of those college students that has NO social life, but I love what I do and that makes up for it. I found out about the Campus Q Team after our LBGT Student Services office selected a group of us to go to the Campus Pride Summer Leadership Camp, and got involved from there. If you want to know more, PLEASE talk to me!

CHARLOTTE, NC, April 7, 2009 –Today Campus Pride officially launched its national blog, Campus Q&A (/). The blog is written and moderated by a team of college student leaders from across the country who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally. As the name Campus Q&A implies, the blog provides a forum to ask questions and get answers.

The only blog of its kind for and by college student leaders, Campus Pride operates the blog through its Campus Q Team. The team consists of nearly a dozen LGBT and ally student leaders chosen from across the country, who serve as active, visible resource persons in variousregions. Any student who is part of the Campus Q Team may be a featured blogger.

“Campus Pride views the Campus Q&A blog as a platform for college activists as well as an organizing tool for LGBT and ally student leaders at colleges and universities. The blog sheds light on important issues to young adults and allows their voice to be heard in a prominent manner in national discourse,” said Christopher Bylone, Campus Q Team Coordinator for Campus Pride. “This blog will be the hub for what’s happening queer on and around college campuses.”

Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization for LGBT and ally student leaders and campus organizations. The mission of the organization is to build future leaders and to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. Campus Pride has been recognized and praised for its Campus Pride Camp in the summer and the national LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org). The new blog will also be a vital tool for Campus Pride to share new resources, updates and activities about the organization in a timely manner.

I was really excited to see that Campus Pride and its LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.campusclimateindex.org) was featured in a recent Newsweek Article -- Fresh Start by Julie Halpert - April 3, 2009, Newsweek.

However, that excitement quickly came to an end when I discovered a not so positive response to the article -- A Rainbow of College Choices, by Colleen Raezler - April 4, 2009, NewsBusters.org

When I first read the second article, I wasn’t sure how to react to it, but after some reflection, I now have a few thoughts about this article. As someone who had to select a college not too long ago, I understand all of the pressures behind it. Everyone has some sort of criteria involved: do they have my major? How close are they to activities I like to do? Is it too close or too far from home? And so on. However for LGBT students there is one my criteria that becomes important. Will the school that I choose support who I am? Even as an ally, I looked for a school that was at least somewhat accepting of the group of people that I had spent the last several years working to support. Now, I will admit that my school isn’t exactly liberal, but when I came to Open House to tour the school, they had a club fair. I had already fallen in love with the campus, and when I saw that rainbow booth, I knew that it was the school for me, because there was a club that I knew I could join.