Students in UT’s higher education master’s program delivered a presentation Thursday about the issues in the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Initiatives and offered suggestions on how to better reach UT students.
The students presenting the information were Tyree Pollard, Joshua Drahos, Katherine Ott and Rachel Schipull, all second-year graduate students in higher education.
The group researched different schools with LGBT programs, compared them to UT’s program and determined Eastern Michigan University is the school most similar to UT.
“We came up with Eastern Michigan [because] the enrollment numbers are similar, they are four-year public institutions, the in-state students are kind of close, the racial demographics are kind of similar,” Ott said.
However, there is a large difference in the LGBT programs, Ott said. Though UT can be seen as the same type of college, EMU was already named one of the top schools in the nation for LGBT programming, and UT’s program is just getting started.
“The LGBT center budget is clearly different because we are just getting off the ground, but the budget at Eastern Michigan is $25,000 while UT’s is 3,000,” Ott said. “That number doesn’t include salaries for the professional staff; it doesn’t include the salaries for the graduate students or the work study students and the conference budget, so the difference is a great deal higher.”
Another program the group mentioned was the Baldwin-Wallace College LGBT host program for prospective students.
“The prospective students come on campus, and they offer to show them around,” Drahos said. “It’s a lot like campus tours but pay specific attention to them. It just builds the sense of, ‘Hey, when you come in, we want you to feel comfortable with coming here and we are going to do everything to help you out.’”
A program at Oberlin College focuses on training and awareness programs for students, faculty and staff, as well as the community, Drahos said.
Another close-to-home program is the online “OUT” at BGSU, he said. The program includes chats, instant messenger, texting and blogs.
After discussing the LGBT programs at other schools, the graduate students presented a list of recommendations for UT’s office and the university as a whole.
The first recommendation was an anonymous student survey for the UT population. Anthony Kapp, project manager for the Office of the Dean of Students, said he liked the idea and it is a need for students on campus.
“They really hit the mark with the need for a survey for the students,” Kapp said. “I think it’s really important that we do that very soon in order to gauge the level of interest in the office of LGBT initiatives and the need among the student body in terms of advocacy and just general services that are needed. We really don’t have a good gauge on the numbers at this point, so I think the survey piece is very important.”
The second recommendation was for the creation of programs for incoming LGBT students. This recommendation had not been taken into account prior to the presentation, Kapp said.
“One of the new ideas that we haven’t discussed within the office here or on the advisory board was a transitional piece of students coming out of high school into college looking for services that would be provided by the office of LGBT initiatives,” he said. “I thought that was an important piece that, until [the presentation], I had not given that much thought to.”
Pollard supported his group’s recommendation and said transitional programs for high school students would be a draw to come to UT and be already accepted by their peers.
“[We should] bridge a gap with them now so that, as they come up, it would make it an easier transition into UT and help them become a part of our LGBT center,” Pollard said. “Make them feel comfortable so that it is a smooth transition.”
Another recommendation of the presentation was to increase the current funding of the office of LGBT initiatives, nearer to the amount allotted at EMU.
“Unfortunately, I think Anthony is kind of limited in what he can do because of the small amount of budget [compared to EMU],” Ott said.
Kapp said he agreed that, for the size of UT, the office is severely underfunded.
“In order to truly provide the services and support that students need, there needs to be additional support from the administration in terms of budget,” Kapp said. “For us to be as successful as we need to be, I think it’s important that we try to identify additional funding in the future.”
Other recommendations that the graduate students brought up are already planned in the office and the programs within the office.
“Other things they discussed were things we have discussed on the advisory board but haven’t had the time or the resources to implement at this time,” Kapp said. “But it was a good reinforcement of the things we are talking about doing.”
Kapp said a program the office would like to create is for the heterosexual students to educate them on the LGBT issues as a way of creating a more inclusive student body.
“A lot of our students are coming from rural areas of Ohio where they haven’t been exposed to gay or lesbian people,” Kapp said. “There’s just an overall lack of education about LGBT people, and obviously that’s what we need to be working on.”
Educating heterosexual students would also help create a safer, welcoming environment for LGBT students on campus, Kapp said.
Another way UT students and faculty could show support for LGBT issues is by getting involved with the programs on campus, Kapp said.
“We need more faculty and staff and student leaders who are willing to take LGBT issues and talk about them out there in the public, on the board of trustees, out in the community, in the classroom,” Kapp said. “I think these issues need to become part of the discussions that we’re having across campus.”
The Independent Collegian > News
Graduates offer LGBT assessment
Published: Monday, March 30, 2009
Updated: Monday, March 30, 2009
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