More applications add LGBT question

More prospective students are coming across a new question on their college admissions application: “Do you consider yourself to be a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community?”

After Elmhurst College, a small liberal arts school in a Chicago suburb, added a similar question to its admissions application two years ago, more universities have followed suit. And LGBT advocates are working to add the question onto even more schools’ applications.

Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer said the question would hold colleges accountable for the welfare of LGBT students. Colleges will be able to track the retention rate of LGBT students and examine problems the group faces.

UNC uses the Common Application, which only asks if students are male or female and asks no questions about sexuality, said Ashley Memory, assistant director of undergraduate admissions.

Windmeyer said he does not think the question will come to UNC.

“I know gender-(neutral) housing was a priority and we saw how that went,” he said. “I think (UNC is) trying to figure out what they will do without getting the state legislature riled up.”

But Lauren Scanlan, co-president of UNC’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, said these changes could happen at UNC because the campus has a record of acceptance.

“If you come from a small town and people start asking these questions, you can see that this is a real thing, like gender and sexuality are real,” she said.

Still, Scanlan said the question would have to be carefully worded, as it could alienate some students.

“If phrased like male, female or other then it is not enough,” she said. “They may not list all orientations, like asexual rarely gets listed at all and many people don’t realize that’s an orientation as well.”

Gary Rold, Elmhurst dean of admissions, said the addition of the question has faced mixed reaction, including criticism from some alumni and non-students in the community. But he said the question has had a positive effect.

Rold said Elmhurst’s inclusion of the question has led to better outreach to high school Gay-Straight Alliances and more recognition of Elmhurst’s LGBT-friendly status.

“We ask about ethnicity, race and interest in activities — we ask everything,” Rold said. “So I thought, ‘Why don’t we ask (about sexual orientation or gender identity)?’”

But this admissions change might not work for every school, Rold said.

“Being a small college, the advantage for us is that we can say, ‘Yes, that will work here’ — you can have a pretty good handle on your students,” he said. “With 30,000 students, it’s a lot harder to say.”

Although Windmeyer said he doesn’t see the application change coming to UNC anytime soon, he remains positive about the University’s overall LGBT efforts.

“UNC-Chapel Hill has continuously done the right thing in protecting LGBT students and their academics and health,” he said. “Putting a question on a form is not everything — it’s about protecting students and getting them to graduate.”

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