A recent study has revealed that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people are met with a “chilly” climate on college campuses across the nation.
The study was conducted by Campus Pride, a national non-profit working to create more comfortable environments for LGBTQ students on college campuses.
This is the first study of its type, said Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride’s executive director. “National research has consistently shown that LGBT youth in kindergarten through high school encounter alarming rates of harassment, discrimination and bullying. There has never been a comprehensive national study to document what happens when these youth go to college – until now,” Windmeyer said.
The study found that lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer (LGBQ) respondents experienced significantly more discrimination and harassment than their heterosexual counterparts. Furthermore, those who identified as transmasculine or transfeminine and gender non-conforming experienced significantly higher rates of harassment than men and women.
It also found that LGBQ respondents who identified as racial minorities were more likely than white LGBQ students to report race as the basis for harassment and felt even more uncomfortable than white LGBQ students in their classes.
But does this study hold true for SMU’s campus? Alex Parrish, co-president of the SPECTRUM, an organization for LGBTQ students and their allies, said that he doesn’t think so.
“I personally have never felt uncomfortable while on campus,” Parrish said. “I only experienced one instance of name- calling or gay bashing, and that was from one of the random hordes of children that appear on campus sporadically.”
Parrish said that most of the LGBTQ students he knows feel comfortable on campus but that “there is a tacit understanding that as long as they don’t announce or flaunt their sexual identities, they can fit in.”
Katie Perkins, student body secretary and one of the main authors of last year’s Senate legislation that would have added an LGBTQ special interest seat to Student Senate, said that she believes some of the tension is present on our campus.
“I think that the problem isn’t really with the institution or the administration, I think it’s with students and the ignorance that comes with being a college student,” Perkins said. “A lot of kids, especially on our campus, have never really encountered that type of person before.”
Aaron Barnes, a senior and active participant in SPECTRUM, said that he feels safe on campus but says that “being trans[gendered] and identifying as queer in regards to my sexuality definitely does compound the problem.”
Barnes said that the level of acceptance of LGBTQ students on campus varies by school. In his own major, anthropology, Barnes believes students are more accepting because of the nature of their studies. He said that the same is true for the rest of Dedman and for Meadows as well.
“I don’t feel comfortable going to the school of business because there is a culture there that is a totally different atmosphere,” Barnes said.
But Barnes, Perkins and Parrish all agree that the school itself is not the problem. “SMU has great resources in the Women’s Center and SPECTRUM, and while other universities may have similar centers and organizations, I feel ours is one of the best,” Parrish said.
