Our Place on Campus: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Services and Programs in Higher Education

by Ronni L. Sanlo, Sue Rankin, Robert Schoenberg

Overview

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students arrive on campuses every year expecting their voices to be heard, their concerns acknowledged, and their needs met in a welcoming educational environment. The establishment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Centers on campuses has transformed colleges and universities into places where social justice prevails. This book provides guidelines for establishing and operating LGBT centers or program offices on their own campuses.

Subjects include:
• The history of LGBT centers in higher education
• Needs assessments, proposal development, and types of centers
• Issues related to documentation of the LGBT campus population
• Starting an LGBT center or office on campus
• Hiring center directors
• Strategic development for successful action planning
• The importance of advisory boards for LGBT centers and programs
• Selection and implementation of basic services and programs
• Visibility, funding, and staffing issues.

This book is a collaborative effort among three colleagues who have spent years working to build the profession of the LGBT Campus Resource Center Director. Colleagues from the LGBT Centers around the country provided many of the case studies and authored several of the chapters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313314063
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/30/2002
Series:	The Greenwood Educators' Reference Collection
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

RONNI SANLO is Director, University of California, Los Angeles, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Resource Center and a lecturer in the Graduate School of Education.

SUE RANKIN is Senior Diversity Planning Analyst and Coordinator of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equity at Pennsylvania State University.

ROBERT SCHOENBERG has been the director of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center at the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most advanced programs of its kind in the nation, since its founding in 1982.

Table of Contents

Introduction
LGBT Centers on Campus: What Are They and Why Do You Need Them?
An Overview of This New Profession in Higher Education
Assessing the Needs and Proposing Solutions
The Development and Administration of Campus LGBT Centers and Offices by Brett Beemyn
Documenting Their Existence: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Students on Campus by Therese Eyermann and Ronni Sanlo
Starting Your Program or Center
Matching Directors and Centers or Offices: Hiring for Success
Developing a Strategic Plan
Developing Your Vision, Mission, Goals, and Evaluation: Building Your Action Plan
Advisory Boards
Identifying and Providing Programs and Services
Selecting and Implementing Services: The Basics of an Active Center or Office
Safe Zones and Allies Programs
Mentoring Programs by Patricia Alford-Keating
Advocacy and Judicial Response
LGBT Faculty, Staff, and Alumni Organizations
The Power of a System-Wide Organization: The University of California LGBTI Association by Jonathan Winters
Selecting and Implementing Programs
The Lavender Leader: An Inqueery Into Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Student Leadership
LGBT Peer Counselors by Christine Browning and Patricia Walsh
Lavender Graduation: Acknowledging the Lives and Achievements of LGBT College Students
Maintaining Your Center
Managing Ancillary Staff by Steven J. Leider
Creating Visibility and Positive Public Relations
Funding and Development
Grass-Roots Activism versus the Ivory Tower
Appendix A: Directory of the National Consortium of Directors of LGBT Resources in Higher Education
Appendix B: Campus Climate Report: Three Meta-Analysis Themes
Appendix C: Summary of Recommendations for Change
Appendix D: Example of Structure
Appendix E: Center Director Position Description
Appendix F: Pennsylvania State University's LGBT Resource Room Goals and Action Plan
Appendix G: Inventory of Questions for Service Providers
Appendix H: Referral Letter, Resource Guide Referral Form, and Survey of Community Practitioners
Appendix I: National Organizations
Appendix J: Resources for LGBT Centers, Services, Programs, and Libraries
Appendix K: Announcement of the Safe Zones Program to Student and Campus Life Staff
Appendix L: Testimony to the Regents of the University of California
Appendix M: Associations and Agents that Provide Speakers and Entertainers
Appendix N: Lavender Graduation Certificate of Distinction
References
Index