LGBT students beginning a college search—and the institutions working to recruit and retain them—have a range of resources available, said Dr. Joseph J. Salomone, Executive Director and University Registrar at Drexel University. At a Monday session at the AACRAO Annual Meeting in Denver, Salomone discussed how these resources have evolved over the last several years.
“It went from a self-help approach, to consolidating information, to a more systematic scorecard that is evaluated by colleges and universities and gives them an incentive to do better,” he said.
Salomone shared the following tools:
The Advocate College Guide is based on thousands of student interviews and hundreds of staff and faculty interviews and showcases campuses that demonstrate a commitment to LGBT students. While this guide is comprehensive, Salomone recommends it be used as a starting point because it has not been updated since it was published in 2006.
Campus Pride Index (http://www.campusprideindex.org), an online tool developed by nonprofit North Carolina organization Campus Pride, rates institutions based on assessment questions about LGBT-friendly factors including: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, student life, academic life, housing, campus safety, counseling and health, recruitment and retention efforts. Colleges and universities receive their assessment score as well as recommendations, and choose whether or not they’d like to publish their scores. LGBT students can search and compare the scores of institutions. The index also includes a LGBT scholarship database and an Honor Roll of institutions with the top star ratings.
The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com/lgbtq/college-guide.aspx) presents a range of information for LGBT students, from coming out on college applications to LGBT scholarships. The resource also begins to look at the diversity of LGBT students, including race and ethnicity.
Salomone explained how colleges and universities can use these resources as they develop supportive environments for LGBT students. He cited critical strategies from the “2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People,” published by Campus Pride, including: offer comprehensive counseling and health care; consider on-campus housing; respond appropriately for anti- LGBTQQ incidents/bias; integrate LGBT issues in curricular and co-curricular education; and demonstrate institutional commitment; and develop inclusive policies.
“We have to think about resources as part of a larger initiative,” Salomone said.