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Universities seek to accommodate LGBT students

From Harvey Milk to Ellen DeGeneres, gay rights activism has taken the news media stage worldwide. The debate on marriage equality is often the headliner, but conversations at the university level are starting to step into the spotlight.

Some students are rallying to increase options for LGBT students on Bradley’s campus, with two specific goals including the establishment of an LGBT dorm floor and the creation of gender-neutral bathrooms.

A gender-neutral bathroom is a restroom that allows people of any gender or gender identity to use it.

Junior and Common Ground Vice President Glenna Nelson said more LGBT features at Bradley would make students feel more comfortable and create a safer environment for students who want to come out but are too afraid to do so.

“Everyone that I’ve talked to has expressed concern in coming out to their roommate,” Nelson said. “I’ve definitely heard a lot of people express a want for gender-neutral bathrooms. Other colleges have them, why can’t we?”

Campus Pride Index published the Top 50 LGBT-Friendly Universities and Colleges report in August, surveying more than 420 universities to provide what they call a “national benchmarking tool to assess the LGBT-friendly nature of a campus.”

Campus Pride’s Executive Director Shane Windemeyer told the Huffington Post Aug. 15 that the increase in universities’ “notable improvements to LGBT academic life” drove Campus Pride to publish a top 50 listing this year as opposed to 2013’s top 25 campuses.

Campus Pride assesses college LGBT-friendliness by giving equal weight to eight factors: policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing, campus safety, counseling and health and recruitment and retention.

The 59-question survey aims to measure school progress with LGBT programming and accommodations while helping universities learn what key areas they can improve, according to the index’s Pride Score statement.

A few of the top schools include the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, Rutgers University, Oberlin College, Princeton University and Harvard University.

These universities went “above and beyond” in their LGBT accommodations according to Campus Pride.
Princeton University offers a map for its students, which identifies locations of all gender-neutral and unisex bathrooms on campus. The University of Massachusetts–Amherst was the first to create an LGBT floor, complete with gender-neutral rooms and restrooms.

While these universities have taken steps toward LGBT-friendly features, some students do not want to see Bradley follow suit.

“Though I do not agree with [the creation of] gender-neutral restrooms [at Bradley], I understand these individuals’ lifestyles and treat them like any other person and love them the same,” sophomore and Peoria District 150 School Board candidate Josh Haywood said.

Nelson said the gender-neutral bathrooms shouldn’t affect those opposing its creation.

“By arguing the floor’s/bathroom’s existence, [those students who are against it] are creating a judgmental and uncomfortable space for students who are already dealing with the fear of not being accepted somewhere that they should be able to call home,” Nelson said.

According to Nelson, an LGBT floor and gender-neutral bathrooms would mean a lot to incoming LGBT students as well as current Bradley students.

“College is the time that a lot of people decide to come out, so they’re looking for a university that would offer them an environment they would feel safe in,” she said. “It would be especially cool for transgender students [because] being transgender is such an unknown and misunderstood thing to the general public.”

Haywood said he hopes that if and when Bradley administrators consider LGBT accommodations that they would do so on their own terms and not based on the pressure felt from other universities’ decisions.

“If your values are like mine and [you] understand that these lifestyles should not be forced into other people’s, then stand up for what is right,” finance major Haywood said. “Bradley must make decisions that are in the best interest of the students as a whole as well as the community, and not a select special group interest.”

The University has not yet begun formal discussions for the possibility of an LGBT floor or gender-neutral restrooms.

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The Scout is published by members of the student body of Bradley University. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the University.