First comprehensive LGBTQA survey results draw from 900 student responses

Results for a campus-wide survey conducted last spring, evaluating the College's LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Allied students) services and programs, were published today through the Office of Institutional Research (OIR). The results were drawn from a total of 900 student responses.

For six years, the LGBTQA department has worked to expand resources with little success. Last year, the administration turned down a campaign seeking extra office hours for LGBTQA advisor Judah-Abijah Dorrington. While this decision was in part due to budgeting constraints, the administration was also reluctant to act on LGBTQA concerns without data indicating that students required additional services.

"People felt like they were being ignored," Dorrington said. The student body responded by voting "high priority" on LGBTQA issues, resulting in the campus-wide appraisal on corresponding services and programs.

"Now we have legitimacy in numbers," president of Wellesley for Equality Elizabeth Shirey '10 said, regarding the results. "That not only lets us speak to the administration on the level they want us to, [but it also makes] people see this as a real issue."
According to Dorrington, the overwhelming 900 student responses to the survey "woke the administration up."

"[If] you had 900 people affected by something then you've got the whole community affected," she said.

While other forms of multicultural diversity can easily be quantified as admissions statistics, defining the LGBT population has proven more difficult.

"Part of the reason why [Dean Debra DeMeis] and I wanted to do this survey is because we've never been able to capture all of the community–because [with] the queer community, you don't come in on your admissions form and check that box that says queer [or] straight," Dorrington said. Thus, the survey offers the first step for addressing the current knowledge gap on students of diverse sexual orientations.

Following initial review of the survey results by Dorrington and DeMeis, the LGBTQA resource center opened in early Oct., which provides a space for students to come together to discuss issues regarding sexual orientation.

According to Dorrington, future LGBTQ programming will focus on providing broader support to the community, especially those in a large group of queer, newly queer and questioning allies.

Original programming and services tended to overlook students still in the process of "working out their own sexuality, so we didn't see them at Spectrum or at programs, and what we found out is that they didn't feel that the [LGBTQ] programs and services were for them" Dorrington said. "We're trying to arrange a full spectrum of programming."
"Sometimes [LGBT students] don't feel represented by [the existing LBGTQ goups on campus]," Cathy Chu '10, former president of the on-campus LGBTQ organization, Spectrum, and a member of Mission Change, said. Mission Change, of which Shirey is likewise a member, was a student group established in 2004 to address the dearth of support for students of diverse sexual orientations.Members of Mission Change will not only analyze the survey results but also collaborate with Dorrington and DeMeis to create student forums and an ad hoc committee to discuss the data. These developments will take place on an "urgent timeline," according to Dorrington, and will allow the administration to better gauge the needs specific to students in the LGBTQA community.

"Do we need to create more training or do more with the counseling center, or with the RAs or put more rainbows on campus?" Dorrington said. Referring to the range of circumstances faced specifically by LGBTQ students, Chu explained that resources should be created for students, who are left financially unsupported by parents disapproving of their sexual orientations.

The survey made available today by the OIR serves as a reference for how LGBTQ voices will be included in the Diversity Initiative, announced last month by DeMeis and President Bottomly. "We have to figure out how [the LGBT community fits] into [the Initiative], and how it fits into our program," Chu said.

As the College's first comprehensive documentation on issues regarding sexual orientation, the results will allow for the administration to better identify students' needs and and effectively address these needs as part of the larger multicultural support network.