How Should Colleges Ask About Students’ Sexual Orientation?

By Tammy R. Johnson. In recent years, there has been increasing interest among admission officers regarding the identification of LGBT students on campus. Reliable statistics about LGBT populations on campuses across the country are all but non-existent, and many progressive institutions are aiming to remedy that problem. It is a growing concern: How can schools provide outreach and support (and increase retention rates) for LGBT students if this at-risk population continues to be invisible? Likewise, LGBT campus groups are almost uniformly in favor of collecting reliable data that will document the presence of LGBT students on campus, which would help these groups advocate more successfully for funding and support. In the research-based environments of most college campuses, there is little opposition to collecting data to identify LGBT students. Faculty and staff who are even remotely familiar with the unique struggles faced by many LGBT students understand the justifications for identification.  Disagreement usually arises, however, when campuses begin to wrestle with the question of how to collect the data. Read more...