According to an April, 2003 report, Campus Climate for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender People: A National Perspective, American campuses are tipping back and forth between an unprecedented openness toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) persons and an apparent backlash against this trend. Recently, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University repealed its sexual orientation nondiscrimination policy and then reversed that decision in the face of campus protests and public pressure. Upheavals such as the one at Virginia Tech, according to Lorri L. Jean, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, make it apparent that America's campuses are at a moment in history when institutional commitments need to come closer to on-campus realities.

The report is intended, the authors note, as a resource for colleges and universities without GLBT nondiscrimination policies, without offices established to serve the needs of GLBT students, or without "official references to GLBT people and issues within their policies." The survey includes recommendations and a model for campuses to use to maximize equity. If colleges and universities ignore the concerns of their GLBT populations, writes Jean, they "stifle the academic community as a whole."

FINDINGS

• More than one-third (36 percent) of GLBT undergraduate students have experienced harassment within the past year, as have 29 percent of all respondents to the survey, which included students, faculty, staff, and administrators who identified themselves as GLBT.
• Twenty percent of all respondents to the survey feared for their physical safety because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 51 percent concealed their sexual orientation or gender identity to avoid intimidation.
• Forty-three percent of the respondents rated the overall campus climate as homophobic; 10 percent of respondents would avoid areas of campus where GLBT people congregate for fear of being labeled.
• Those who experienced harassment reported that derogatory remarks were the most common form (89 percent) and that the source of the harassment was most often students (79 percent).
• Besides derogatory remarks, other types of harassment included verbal harassment or threats (48 percent), anti-GLBT graffiti (39 percent), pressure to conceal one's sexual orientation/identity (38 percent), written comments (33 percent), and physical assaults (11 percent).
• Forty-one percent of respondents felt that their college/university was not addressing issues related to sexual orientation/gender identity.
• Forty-three percent felt that the curriculum did not represent well enough the contributions of GLBT persons.
• Thirty-four percent of respondents avoided disclosing their sexual orientation/gender identity to an instructor, teaching assistant, administrator, or supervisor within the past year due to a fear of negative consequences, harassment, or discrimination.
• A slightly higher proportion of people of color (32 percent) reported being the victims of harassment due to their sexual orientation/gender identity compared to white people (28 percent).
• Thirteen percent of "out" GLBT respondents indicate they were threatened by physical harm versus 7 percent of those who were "closeted."
• Most experiences of harassment happened in public spaces on campus (63 percent); in the residence halls (forty percent); and in the classroom (thirty percent).
• The majority of the respondents indicated that transgendered persons were the most likely to be harassed on campus (71 percent) followed by gay men (61 percent), lesbians (53 percent), and bisexuals (38 percent).
• While many of the participating institutions provided a rapid response system for reporting anti-GLBT acts of intolerance, most respondents (61 percent) were uncertain whether a system existed.

Campus Climate for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender People: A National Perspective by Susan R Rankin was published by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute (www.ngltf.org). A free, PDF download of the report is available at www.ngltf.org/downloads/CampusClimate.pdf.

For additional GLBT resources, visit www.diversityweb.org.

For an overview of American higher education's role as testing ground for American pluralism, read AAC&U's publication, The Drama of Diversity and Democracy, www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Only 100 of 5,500 U.S. colleges and universities have GLBT student centers.
  
• Nineteen percent of respondents reported that they feared for their safety in the past year because of their sexual orientation/gender identity.
  
• Fifty-one percent of study respondents concealed their sexual orientation/gender identity to avoid intimidation.
  
• About three quarters of faculty (73 percent), students (74 percent) administrators (81 percent) and staff (73 percent) rated the campus climate as homophobic.