task force presents lgbtq.xml

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Part of Task force presents LGBTQ climate survey results

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Task force presents LGBTQ climate survey results
Task force will use results to
improve campus enironment
for LGBTQ community
Michelle Wan
Co-News Editor
Fewer faculty and staff observed dis-
criminatory behaviors, but written respons-
es indicated a wider range in opinion on
incidences of discrimination. Some heard
derogatory gay slurs often; others did not
believe such remarks were used with ma-
licious intent. “We have professors saying
that they have heard ‘gay’ in the classroom
[…] or in the hallways, but that it was be-
ing used in a colloquial way, so that’s fine,”
Catafago said. “I think that’s a problem that
we have to attack.”
Another problem for the task force to
address is awareness of the college’s bias
intent and hate crime reporting procedure.
About 70 percent of all respondents did not
believe or were unsure that the college has
a “clear and visible procedure for reporting
LGBTQ-related incidents and hate crimes.”
“There’s no point in having this system
in place if no one knows about it,” Catafago
said. “The procedure exists, but if only 20
percent of people even know it exists, that’s
really weird and something that would be
really easy to fix.”
The form for reporting bias incidents and
hate crime can be found at http://webapps.
davidson.edu/bias.
Following review of their survey results,
the LGBTQ Task Force will present the data
to various groups of campus personnel, in-
cluding deans and directors, Residence Life
Office staff, Human Resources and Student
Life staff.
Moving forward, the task force has sev-
eral proposed initiatives to improve campus
culture around LGBTQ issues. Larger ini-
tiatives include a campus center for LGBTQ
resources. “Every other school of David-
son’s caliber has a center,” Catafago said.
“Whether that needs to be called ‘LGBTQ’
or not, because some people think that name
could be limiting, we just need a space.”
Only 3.5 percent of student respondents
who identify as non-heterosexual strongly
agreed that their sexual identity is welcomed
on campus, according to the results of a sur-
vey sent to students, staff and faculty.
Non-heterosexual student respondents
include those who identify as lesbian, gay,
bisexual, queer, questioning, pansexual and
asexual.
The Student Government Association’s
Task Force on LGBTQ Affairs conducted
the survey on LGBTQ campus climate in
December. Krista Catafago `14, Director of
Multicultural Affairs for the SGA, present-
ed the survey results at Thursday evening’s
SGA senate meeting.
Four hundred and thirty-six students re-
sponded to the survey. Nineteen percent of
those students identified as non-straight. Of
the 360 respondents from staff and faculty
members, nine percent of staff and eight
percent of faculty identified as non-straight.
The sample size was large enough to al-
low the task force to draw conclusions about
the atmosphere surrounding LGBTQ issues
on campus. “We got a lot of respondents,
arguably more than I thought we would,”
Catafago said at Thursday’s SGA meeting.
“Obviously it’s hard because there are more
straight or heterosexual respondents than
there are non-heterosexual, but I still think
we have large enough numbers to draw our
conclusions.”
Only 4.5 percent of faculty and staff re-
spondents strongly agreed that their sexual
identity is welcomed. Over 25 percent of
non-straight students responded that they
disagreed or strongly disagreed. “This is one
of our most pressing questions,” Catafago
said. “The ‘non-straight’ number is really
concerning to me. Part of your identity is
your sexual identity and that fact that so few
people are feeling welcomed is definitely a
problem.”
The task force was also interested in the
number of incidences of discrimination to-
ward people based on sexual orientation.
Over 40 percent of all students responded
that they occasionally or often observed
“discriminatory words, behaviors or ges-
tures directed at people on campus based on
their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
In written responses, students indicated
that the words “gay” and “fag” are com-
monly used derogatory slurs. Respondents
specifically mentioned “weekends down the
hill” as a social setting where such slurs are
heard more often. “A lot of the responses
said that this was a problem that [students]
felt at Patterson Court, and that there were
some social contexts that this wouldn’t be
happening in, and others where it was a lot
heavier,” Catafago said.
Please indicate your level of agreement
with the following statement: I feel like my
sexual identity is welcomed on campus.
Infographic courtesy of SGA Task Force on LGBTQ Affairs
Is Format Of: task force presents lgbtq.pdf