Posted on 11/04/2002 8:46:22 AM PST by Incorrigible
Monday, November 04, 2002
BY KELLY HEYBOER
Star-Ledger Staff
[Princeton, NJ] -- The Alliance, a campus support group for gay students, meets each week. University celebrations of National Coming Out Day are held each fall. Seminars titled "Everything You Wanted to Know About Being Gay But Were Afraid to Ask," are conducted in the freshman dorms.
Welcome to Drew University -- the most accepting college in the nation for gay and lesbian students, according to a recent survey by the Princeton Review.
The Madison campus took the top ranking this fall in the national student survey, edging out Boston University, Wesleyan, Wellesley and Vassar. Drew officials said they welcome the distinction, but do not expect to see the ranking in the private university's recruiting materials anytime soon.
"We try to be welcoming to all students. Diversity is a big thing here," said Tom Harris, a Drew spokesman. "But we almost never use those rankings for marketing."
While Drew will not tout itself as "No. 1 for Gay Students," a handful of colleges across the nation are starting to market themselves specifically as campuses that welcome homosexual students. Schools from San Jose State to Brown and Harvard have slowly begun targeting their recruiting efforts at the increasingly visible gay and lesbian student market.
Some schools, including California's San Jose State University, are featuring gay students prominently in their recruiting brochures. Others, including American University in Washington, D.C., have carefully cultivated a reputation among high school counselors as being comfortable for gay students.
In a move that got national attention this spring, recruiters from nearly 40 New England colleges, including Harvard, attended a first-ever college fair for gay and lesbian students in Boston. Even the Journal of College Admissions, the bible of college admissions officers, featured an article on its cover this month about recruiting gay students.
Dea Nelson, publication coordinator for San Jose State's enrollment services office, said inquiries from openly gay students, their families and high school counselors have caused colleges to take notice.
Nelson said she has seen a significant increase in attendance at seminars she hosts on the topic at annual conventions for college admissions officers.
"I noticed the first few years they were not all that well attended," Nelson said. "That has really evolved over time. I do see the trend is there."
San Jose State is often cited as a pioneer in marketing to gay and lesbian students. After years of slipping references to gay life into its recruiting publications, the state university became one of the first schools in the nation to prominently display a rainbow flag and to profile a gay student in the so-called view books describing the institution sent to prospective students.
To Nelson's surprise, no one complained or objected to including gay students in marketing materials. Several students, including one international student from Malaysia, said they applied to San Jose State specifically because the school's view book made it seem like they would be welcome, Nelson said.
However, colleges say it is hard to statistically measure how effective marketing to gay students has been because it is impossible to get an accurate count of how many homosexual students are on campus.
For years, gay and lesbian students have been choosing colleges based on word of mouth or the visibility of gay and lesbian groups on campus. But with the students coming out at earlier and earlier ages -- and with parents becoming increasingly accepting of their children's sexual orientation-- colleges have begun to get questions about gay life on campus.
Last year, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network , based in New York, published a college guide for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual students. The first printing of the pamphlet, titled "Finding an LGBT-Friendly Campus," disappeared almost immediately as students, parents and counselors snatched it up.
"There was a need," said Mary Kate Cullen, the group's public policy director. "Over the past seven years, the number of students out in high school has increased tremendously. ... More teachers, parents and counselors are aware of these students and their needs."
Cullen said gay students who have come from supportive high schools expect a similar atmosphere at college, while homosexual students who have felt harassed or unwelcome at home or high school look for a college where they can be accepted.
The education network recommends lesbian and gay students gauge a college's "friendliness" by asking how many openly gay students, professors and administrators are on campus and whether there are gay-studies courses or majors offered.
Students also should ask whether there are support services for homosexual students and whether the campus has active clubs and student organizations for gay and lesbian students, Cullen said.
John Saul of Florham Park said he was not specifically looking for a gay-friendly campus when he applied to Drew University in the mid-1990s. But, much to his relief, Saul, a biology major, found the 2,400-student liberal arts college welcoming.
"I basically had come out within the first two months I was here and I never had any problems," said Saul. "It's basically a non-issue. ... People don't worry or think about it."
Saul, who graduated in 1999, stayed on campus to work in Drew's academic technology office. He also serves as adviser to the Drew Alliance, the campus gay-straight group.
The Alliance, which has about 20 active members, holds weekly meetings and organizes events, including last month's Coming Out Day panel and dinner. Jennifer Royer, the group's co-president, said the atmosphere at Drew is welcoming enough to attract students from neighboring Fairleigh Dickinson University to the Alliance's meetings.
The group also welcomes straight students at its events and makes a point to never ask anyone's sexual orientation, Royer said.
"It's such not an issue here," Royer said. "When people go out in the real world, that's the problem."
Kelly Heyboer covers higher education. She can be reached at kheyboer@starledger.com or (973) 392-5929.
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
How many straight kids are looking for a "gay-friendly" campus? Why would they? Most straight kids will avoid that kind of environment because they will naturally gravitate to campuses where they feel that the other students share values and lifestyles in common, it's human nature.
Even considering the over-inflated stat of 10% of the population being gay, consider how this reduces their pool of potential students!!! My bet is that the administration at Drew College is collectively cringing and dragging out the old vitaes for dusting off.
Simple. Those who want to start a "straight alliance" club would be branded as hateful, homophobic, evil people who are intolerant of other people's rights. Of course, they don't take into account our rights to walk down the street without constantly being reminded of how sick and perverted these people are. They don't take into account our right to raise our children to be responsible people with high moral standards, without forceful exposure and indoctrination to this kind of behavior at a young age.
But what do I know, I am a hateful, homophobic, evil man who isn't allowed to speak my mind in public. After all, it might upset someone and feelings would get hurt.
Don't want to know, period!
Homosexuals, being natural conspirators as a group, make excellent recruits for any organization dedicated to subverting a country's institutions. The recent scandals in the Catholic Church and the saga of the Cambridge Communists in Britain underscore this point.
What is this, the kids not getting over the cootie phase?
Sheesh.
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