|
NACADA Publications
Clearinghouse
Research
Journal
Academic Advising Today
Monthly Highlights
|
Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
- Resource
Web links helpful for advising LGBT students
- Overviews of issues surrounding advising
LGBT students
- Read More About It!
Bibliography of resources dealing with this issue
Advising
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students in Higher Education
Cari
Moorhead
Associate
Dean, Graduate School
University
of New Hampshire
As
the pluralism of North America
grows more evident, institutions
of higher education share a common belief, born of experience,
that diversity in their student bodies, faculties, and staff is
important if they are to fulfill their primary mission: providing
a quality education . As professionals
in the field of Academic Advising we are guided by the principles
outlined in the NACADA Statement of Core Values (2005), i.e.,
"academic advisors work to strengthen the importance, dignity,
potential, and unique nature of each individual within the academic
setting."
Our
profession understands that students:
"have
diverse backgrounds that can include different ethnic, racial,
domestic, and international communities; sexual orientations;
ages; gender and gender identities; physical, emotional, and psychological
abilities; political, religious, and educational beliefs" (NACADA,
2005).
The
NACADA Statement of Core Values continues that:
"effective
advising requires a holistic approach.To connect academic advising
to students' lives, advisors actively seek resources and inform
students of specialists who can further assess student needs and
provide access to appropriate programs and services. Advisors
help students integrate information so they can make well-informed
academic decisions" (NACADA, 2005).
The
implications for academic advisors are clear; our profession has
a central role to play in creating campus environments that can
support the complexity of people's experience.
Using
Cunningham's (2004) point that multicultural awareness is essential
for academic advisors, this article explores specifics that can
help advisors work with students who identify as lesbian, gay,
bisexual and/or transgender (LGBTQQ 1).
According
to Cass (1979), individuals seek congruency between personal
and societal perceptions of self; development occurs when
individuals work to rectify incongruence arising between these
two perceptions. Consequently, as individuals begin to make
sense of their lives, they effectively redefine their conceptions
of self and world. Although this process confronts all of
our students, those in the early stages of LGBTQQ identity
development have the additional challenge of searching to
find what it means to be LGBTQQ and whether such knowledge
applies to them directly.
For
many LGBTQQ traditional age students this time in North American
history could be described as the best of times and the worst
of times. On the one hand, there have been many great strides
towards equality for LGBTQQ people, e.g., gay marriage became
legal in Massachusetts
in May 2004, and in Canada
and Spain
in June 2005. Many for profit
and non-profit organizations have non-discrimination policies
that help prevent discrimination in the workplace and/or provide
partner benefits for employees and their "families." On the other
hand, 17 states have amended their constitutions to prohibit gay
marriage 2, and there is still no
federal law to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQQ people in
the workplace. Unfortunately there has been little research conducted
on Advising LGBTQQ students. In preparation for a presentation
at a NACADA regional conference, Bob Coffey 3
and I asked University of New Hampshire (UNH) LGBTQQ students
about their experience with their academic advisors 4.
Concern over the connection between personal fulfillment and career
path is a common theme in advisors' work with students; the current
political climate poses particular concerns for LGBTQQ students.
After the recent election, one of the UNH Outdoor Education students
shared his concern that the states he had planned to explore for
career purposes had all voted "red" 5.
This put his academic and career interests in direct conflict
with his personal interests, marriage and family:
"My
advisor has been really helpful in understanding my situation
and said that he'd help me look for [gay-affirmative employers]
in places where there isn't a chance of me being discriminated
against. His response in an email to me was 'Don't worry, Isaiah;
we'll find you a place that's super and fantastic - just like
you.' He's been really supportive." Isaiah6
'08, Outdoor Education
In
our everyday lives we operate under some basic cultural assumptions.
Many are very helpful, in fact, critical to the functioning of
our society, e.g., a red stop light means stop. When studying
North American history from the 1969 Stonewall riots (answers.com,
2005) through the civil rights and women's movements, theorists
illuminate normative assumptions concerning sexuality and gender
and the impact of compulsory heterosexuality and gender duality
on people's lived experiences.
•
There are two sexes (male and female).
•
Sex and gender are the same thing.
•
Everyone fits comfortably into one
or the other.
•
Boys like girls and girls like boys.
•
Optimal pairings are committed monogamous
pairs between people of the 'opposite' sex.
These
normative standards are so embedded that they are invisible to
many people, particularly those who benefit from them the most.
Violators face serious consequences including jeopardizing their
physical safety (remember college student Matthew
Shepard) , their job security, even child custody.
LGBTQQ
individuals, despite certain similarities, are different from
each other and deserve to be treated as individuals. In the same
ways as Cunningham (2004) warns academic advisors against "thinking
we know much of anything about anyone simply because we are aware
of their racial or ethnic classification" the same is true about
sexual orientation and gender identity. As I mentioned earlier,
Bob Coffey and I interviewed some LGBTQQ students recently about
their advising experiences. Not surprisingly students had very
different advisor expectations; some saw no connection between
one's personal identities and one's academic decisions:
"I
don't see it as an issue; I don't see how that person can help
me with my academic advising. It's irrelevant." Danny '08, Continuing
Education
"Being
in the Business School , I wouldn't have expected my advisor to
refer me to LGBTQQ resources - my preference has been to keep
those worlds separate. In the business world, you're supposed
to suppress your personal life anyways - it's like it's not part
of your job. You're there to do your best for your company - everything
else, that's what your breaks are for." Jeff '06, Business Administration/Accounting.
Jeff's
quote outlines the reality for many LGBTQQ people, that of picking
and choosing one's identity for the occasion. These students voices
may sound familiar to advisors since, as a profession, we approach
our jobs from both of positions, i.e., sometimes we just help
students "pick courses" while other times we need to know more
about an advisee in order to help. Just as I believe Jeff and
Danny will to move towards a more inclusive model, so to is advising
developing an identity as a profession.
NACADA's
Statement of Core Values, defines advising is in more holistic
terms, thus taking into account integration of one's being, one's
academic pursuits and one's career planning. I believe that this
shift towards a holistic approach is timely and necessary for
our profession to meet the needs of our ever more diverse student
bodies.
"Assumptions
are powerful. That's probably the most important thing to me -
[how an advisor handled this] would've turned me off or turned
me on. Assumptions like when they ask about future plans, marriage,
and careers. Your career can sometimes be connected to those kinds
of plans. Everyone sees an advisor. For first-year students,
[advisors can be] the first staff they interact with - they represent
the.school." Abigail '07, Women's Studies
[Identifying
as LGBT] never came up as far as grades and classes; it wasn't
important. It was important when I went to inquire about
an incident involving a professor who made comments I was offended
by - it helped that [my academic advisor] knew that I was out
and could help me come up with options." Blair '05, Psychology/Justice
Studies
Suggested
Advising Strategies 7
We
are all composed of multiple specificities, race, ethnicity, religion,
class, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression etc. As academic
advisors, we can support student development by being conscious
of our own embedded cultural assumptions and values and the ways
in which those are exhibited by us personally and by our institutions:
-
Be
Aware of Your Language :
Take our own and
other's multiple identities
into account. This represents a shift away from a more static
understanding of identity, allowing for movement, for increased
self-awareness, for on-going change based on social interactions.
We can educate ourselves and our colleagues on the appropriate
use of labels and expressions used to refer to LGBTQQ individuals.
-
Increase
Visibility :
We can reduce isolation
by using
inclusive language and content in our offices and in our interactions
with all students, e.g., ask if there is 'someone special'
in their lives rather than assuming heterosexuality, i.e., boyfriend
or girlfriend.
-
Promote
Understanding :
We can support LGBTQQ
students by making an effort to learn about LGBTQQ people, their
history, issues and communities.
-
Ask
questions :
Openly LGBTQQ people
usually prefer that their heterosexual colleagues risk sounding
uninformed or offensive by asking questions about sexual orientation
or gender identity, rather than make incorrect assumptions.
-
Brainstorm
solutions :
As with all students,
we can help LGBTQQ students by helping them brainstorm solutions
to academic, personal and career-related challenges they face
rather than offering solutions.
-
Facilitate
and Support :
We are most effective
when we support and facilitate - rather than overprotect - LGBTQQ
students in their struggles with prejudice and discrimination.
It is a tough world; empower students to advocate for themselves.
-
Speak
up: It is critical
that advisors challenge words, decisions and actions that target
LGBTQQ people, even at the risk of being misread as LGBTQQ ourselves.
-
Equal
treatment :
LGBTQQ students
do not want 'special' treatment or privileges. They want an
equal opportunity to live as whole individuals
-
Know
your resources :
Find out what resources
are available on your campus for LGBTQQ students. Is there an
LGBTQQ center? If you have a multicultural center, does their
definition of "multicultural" include LGBTQQ people? Where does
a LGBTQQ student go with a safety or health concern? What curricular
offerings exist in the area, i.e., does your institution have
an LGBTQQ or Queer studies major or minor? Are Career Center
staff aware of the unique employment concerns of LGBTQQ students?
-
Get
involved on campus :
If your situation
allows, meet your students in social settings. Attend an LGBTQQ
event. Find out what activities are taking place and show up.
Your involvement will help nurture affiliations that cultivate
all aspects of our being. You might be surprised how much your
efforts will be appreciated.
1 In the early days of the modern gay movement the term
"gay" was seen as inclusive. Movements for social change,
such as the civil rights movement and the feminist movement,
highlighted the importance of explicit recognition, i.e.,
the term "man" ought not to imply woman. In the same way,
the term "gay" became a male term and term "lesbian" was added
to indicate "gay" women. The current list is fluid and ever
changing. For the purposes of this article the term "LGBTQQ"
refers to lesbian (L), gay (G), bisexual (B), transgender
(T), queer (Q), questioning (Q) people. LGBTQQ is also intended
to include people questioning their sexual orientation and/or
gender identity and/or those who reject labels. The term "Queer"
in this context can encompass those who identify with any
sexual orientation or identity. Intersex (I) --one having
both male and female sexual characteristics (biology-online.org,
2005) -- is a newer term that is making an appearance on college
campuses. The terms "allies" can be added to the list (LGBTQQA)
to refer to those who identify as heterosexual and actively
work to build an affirming community for LGBTQQ people. The
order of the letters has political implications, i.e., GLBT
or LGBT.
2 Human Rights Campaign's annual review
of the State of the American Workplace, 2004.
3 Bob Coffey recently left the University
of New Hampshire to become the Education, Training &
Outreach Coordinator for the Office of Student Conflict
Resolution at the University of Michigan .
4 Bob and I requested, and were granted,
permission from the UNH Internal Review Board (IRB) prior
to beginning our interviews.
5 During the election of 2004 states
won by Kerry were referred to as “blue”
states, while those won by Bush were referred
to as “red” states (see http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/)
6 Students provided us with pseudonyms.
7
This list began life based on Jan
Smith's work in Smith, J. (1995). "Concerns of
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Graduate
Students". New Directions for Student Services
n72 p111-19 Win 1995.
|
