Morehouse’s Safe Space, with members above, has been successful at garnering support, despite not having its own space.
Dr. John Michael Lee Jr., vice president for access and success at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), notes that HBCU student bodies have greater expectations of diversity.
“Students that are coming (to HBCUs) are different,” Lee says. “They’ve had different experiences, they’ve grown up in more diverse communities, and so the expectations of diversity are very different.”
Broader national issues like the legal battles over same-sex marriage have brought LGBTQA issues to the forefront. As national sentiments change, that has spilled over to HBCUs. “I think you’re seeing more efforts to be inclusive on campus,” says Lee.
Some majority institutions have invested substantial dollars in efforts to combat discrimination on the basis of sexual identity. They have dedicated resources, spaces on campuses and even administrative positions to promote LGBTQA issues.
A handful of institutions, like Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania, have taken it several steps further by covering gender reassignment surgeries for employees and students under the campus health plan.
All this is part of a general movement to help LGBTQA students come into their own at higher ed institutions. “Research has shown that students who don’t feel supported in their identities on campus are more likely to leave, and the same goes for faculty and staff ,” says Demere Woolway, co-chair of the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals, in an electronic message to Diverse.
