News Related to Higher Education and LGBTQIA+ Issues

September 15, 2021

"A federal appeals court said this week that Southeastern Oklahoma State University must reinstate, with tenure, a former professor of English who says she was denied tenure for being transgender."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/09/15/court-orders-se-oklahoma-state-reinstate-transgender-professor

September 14, 2021

"A U.S. appeals court ordered Southeastern Oklahoma State University to rehire a transgender English professor and grant her tenure after she was denied it and the school allowed her employment contract to lapse in 2011. The tenure snub came after she transitioned in 2007 and the university disregarded a faculty committee's recommendation that she be granted tenure."

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/appeals-court-orders-southeastern-oklahoma-state-university-to-rehire-trans/606552/

September 8, 2021

"A Christian college in Missouri is continuing a lawsuit challenging a Feb. 11 memorandum saying that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will administer and enforce the Fair Housing Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/09/08/christian-college-sues-over-biden-fair-housing-act-directive

September 2, 2021

"Twenty predominantly conservative states sued the U.S. Department of Education this week, seeking to overturn its interpretation that gay and transgender people are protected under the federal law banning sex-based discrimination in schools....  They also took aim at recent guidance from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stating employers must accommodate LGBTQ workers on certain issues, including their preferred restrooms and pronouns."

More in Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/20-states-sue-education-department-over-title-ix-interpretation/606029/

August 20, 2021

"But if schools don't have an authentic all-comers policy, they must recognize religious students' groups with certain membership requirements, according to a 2020 post from NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. Although some faith-based groups applauded the rule, critics say it prevents colleges from stopping groups from discriminating based on factors such as religion and sexual orientation. "

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/ed-dept-mulls-changes-to-trump-era-rule-securing-public-benefits-for-campus/605351/

August 20, 2021

"In fact, in Yik Yak’s first run, it tended to amplify the voices of wealthy white students involved in Greek life, one researcher found. Francesca Tripodi, an assistant professor in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science ... found that the downvoting mechanism — the one intended to purge harmful content — was often used against sentiments expressed by, say, Black or LGBTQ+ students, that others disagreed with."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/what-colleges-should-know-about-the-new-yik-yak

August 6, 2021

"A former naval training student at Fordham University in New York filed a federal lawsuit accusing the institution of covering up an alleged rape in 2011, The New York Post reported.

"Francis Austin, 30, alleges that his 'closeted homosexual' roommate anally raped him when he participated in a Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps program in February 2011."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/08/06/lawsuit-claims-fordham-covered-alleged-rape

August 4, 2021

"In 2004, as a student at a small Christian college, Paul Southwick sought out spiritual guidance for his 'struggle with same-sex attraction.' A campus pastor and university counselor told him to watch heterosexual pornography and go through conversion therapy, Southwick says. He describes what followed as 'two of the darkest years of my life.'

"Nearly two decades later, Southwick directs the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, the group behind a class-action suit of 40 LGBTQ+ students and recent alumni of Christian universities who allege that the schools discriminated against them."

More at Teen Vogue at www.teenvogue.com/story/lgbtq-students-sue-religious-schools-discrimination

July 30, 2021

"All 17 national laboratories and a group of scientific journals, publishers and other organizations said this week that they’ll partner to support name-change requests from researchers. The effort is aimed at making it easier -- administratively and personally -- for transgender scientists to claim their past work, which may have been published under another name."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/07/30/31-science-groups-partner-transgender-name-change-requests

July 28, 2021

"LGBTQ adults are more likely to have federal student loans than non-LGBTQ adults, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Thirty-five percent of LGBTQ adults have federal student loans, compared to 23 percent of non-LGBTQ adults."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/07/28/study-lgbtq-adults-more-likely-have-federal-student-loans

July 26, 2021

"In the latter role, he has made videos that criticize gay and lesbian people, The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported. He said in the videos that gay pride parades suggest the acceptance of pedophilia, and that the idea of 'coming for your children' is a central belief of the gay 'agenda.' He also criticizes transgender athletes and calls gay and lesbian people 'vile.'"

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/07/26/administrator-public-college-angers-supporters-gay-rights

July 16, 2021

"The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education made a clarification last month that many were anticipating -- LGBTQ+ students are protected by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, meaning students cannot be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at institutions receiving federal funds. While the notice of interpretation aligns with the approach that many colleges and universities were already taking, it signals that OCR is open for business on these issues, and it is ready to hold institutions accountable."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/07/16/institutions-consider-title-ix-protections-lgbtq-students-light-ocr-notice

July 13, 2021

"Baylor University officials are struggling to walk a thin line between supporting LGBTQ students and upholding the Texas Baptist university’s position against gay marriage."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/07/13/baylor-will-consider-lgbtq-student-group

July 9, 2021

"A group of 21 Republican state attorneys general wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday arguing the administration 'misconstrued federal law' when it interpreted Title IX to broadly protect gay and transgender individuals from discrimination."

More at Higher Ed Dive at https://www.highereddive.com/news/21-republican-ags-take-aim-at-the-biden-administrations-title-ix-interpret/603106/

July 9, 2021

"LGBTQ students at Baylor University have been pleading with school leaders for years to officially recognize a group on campus, which would not only allow them to meet on campus and qualify for school funding, but also affirm for queer-identifying students there is a place for them within the university community.

"The request for recognition by Baylor students has been consistently rejected.

"But this spring, the university’s board of regents narrowly opened the door for a change."

More in The Texas Tribune at www.texastribune.org/2021/07/09/baylor-university-lgbtq-student-group/

July 2, 2021

"These events follow a tsunami of criticism over Wolf's book Outrages: Sex, Censorship and the Criminalisation of Love, which was based on her doctoral dissertation, after BBC Radio 3 presenter Matthew Sweet pointed out on air in June 2019 that Wolf had, based on a misreading of criminal records, wrongly claimed that several gay men had been executed in Britain after 1857."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/07/02/naomi-wolf-sought-delay-release-thesis

July 1, 2021

"This is a shared experience for many LGBTQ students on Christian college campuses across the U.S. (as well as at religious-affiliated high schools where disciplinary actions, suspensions and even expulsions are common). As Mother Jones reported recently, LGBTQ students at Christian colleges have been forced to navigate widespread homophobia, the promotion of conversion therapy, being outed to friends and family and losing on-campus jobs due to their sexuality."

More in Time at https://time.com/6074651/christian-colleges-lgbtq-students-equality-act/

June 29, 2021

"While we’ve heard widening discussion on diversity and inclusion among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer students at colleges and universities across the nation, little of that conversation has focused on the importance of LGBTQ leadership at these institutions."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/06/29/lgbtq-leaders-higher-ed-play-modeling-role-others-opinion

June 25, 2021

"The president of the student government at the University of North Alabama has apologized for an antigay Instagram post but has not said he will resign, WAFF News reported. The post said, 'Born this way? You must be born again' beside an image of a rainbow."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/06/25/north-alabama-faces-controversy-over-antigay-instagram-post?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed

June 24, 2021

"The Department of Education is planning to amend the regulations for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 put into place under the Trump administration and intends to release its proposed rule next May.

"The amended rule will be 'consistent with the priorities of the Biden-Harris Administration' -- as indicated in the administration's unified agenda of long-term actions -- described in part by two executive orders President Biden issued this year on combating discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation and guaranteeing an educational environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/06/24/proposed-title-ix-rule-changes-expected-may-2022

June 18, 2021

“'There were a lot of female members and members of the LGBTQ-plus community who resigned, and one of the reasons that a lot of them cited' was that it was a 'sexist organization and a homophobic organization,' Jonathan Falls told The Roanoke Times. Falls resigned from his position as a legislative representative in April of last year."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/this-universitys-student-government-wasnt-working-for-students-so-they-tore-it-down-and-started-from-scratch

June 17, 2021

"Students cannot be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, said the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/06/17/ocr-says-lgbtq-students-are-protected-title-ix

June 16, 2021

"In an expected move, the U.S. Education Department announced on Wednesday that LGBTQ students are protected by Title IX — making clear how the federal government plans to enforce the gender-equity law during the Biden administration."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/blogs/higher-ed-under-biden-harris/title-ix-protects-lgbtq-students-education-department-says

June 16, 2021

"After word got around that Bucks County Community College would be hosting a talk by a 'practicing homosexual' on May 9, 1968, the school’s president, Charles E. Rollins, received 100 complaints and decided to cancel the engagement three hours before it was to start.

"As many as 200 students promptly held a demonstration that made headlines in college and local newspapers. They also made history a full year before the Stonewall riots launched the modern LGBTQ rights movement and eclipsed most of the pathbreaking events and organizations that preceded it."

More in the Philadelphia Inquirer at www.inquirer.com/life/historic-cancel-culture-incident-when-bucks-county-college-disinvited-gay-speaker-20210616.html

June 16, 2021

"Following Biden's order, which came on his first day in office and cited the Bostock ruling, the U.S. Department of Justice in April issued a memo stating that sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes under Title IX. That document also cites the Bostock ruling and notes that federal courts have already been applying it to Title IX decisions."

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/ed-dept-title-ix-covers-gender-identity-and-sexual-orientation/601935/

June 14, 2021

"At issue in the case of Shawnee State University professor Nicholas Meriwether is the question of whose rights take priority when a transgender student’s demands for respect and recognition conflict with a teacher’s personal views or religious beliefs. It’s a question that is being asked with increasing frequency as the number of transgender students grows and the use of pronouns has become a new battleground in the culture wars."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/its-sad-that-just-treating-all-children-with-respect-has-become-a-political-issue/2021/06/14/3ed006b0-caeb-11eb-afd0-9726f7ec0ba6_story.html

June 11, 2021

"The Department of Justice said in a court filing this week that it intends to 'vigorously' defend an exemption to Title IX that allows religious colleges to discriminate against LGBTQ+ students, The Washington Post reported."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/06/11/doj-will-defend-title-ix-exemption-lgbtq-student-suit

June 11, 2021

"In doing such work, however, she often discovers books that have been challenged or censored. Many of those books, she says, are challenged because they have LGBTQ content that some people feel is not appropriate for youth literature. But for Melilli and others at the TDRL, challenging and censoring LGBTQ content risks telling students 'that there is no place for those children/teens in their communities,' she says."

More at Diverse: Issues In Higher Education at https://diverseeducation.com/article/216916/

June 9, 2021

"People who identify as LGBTQ+ are nearly four times more likely than their heterosexual peers to experience violent victimization, including rape, sexual assault and aggravated or simple assault, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law released last October."

More at Diverse: Issues in Higher Education at https://diverseeducation.com/article/216920/

June 9, 2021

"The Justice Department in a new court filing said it can 'vigorously' defend a religious exemption from federal civil rights law that allows federally funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. The filing relates to a pending lawsuit in which dozens of such students accuse conservative religious universities and colleges of discrimination and harm.

"Some LGBTQ advocates were disturbed by the filing, which came Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oregon, saying its wording went further than necessary, further than just an obligation to defend an existing law. They want the administration to agree with them that it’s unconstitutional for federally funded schools to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and that the exemption isn’t defensible."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2021/06/09/biden-justice-lgbtq-lesbian-gay-christian-college-university-bostock-equality-act/

June 7, 2021

"Over the past few years, it has become more and more common for lesbian and gay coaches to include the names of spouses and partners in their bios. Dr. Pat Griffin, professor emerita of education at University of Massachusetts Amherst and longtime advocate for equality in sports, describes it as a sea change, noting that today’s athletes and coaches are coming out into a much more supportive environment than existed 20 years ago."

More at Diverse: Issues In Higher Education at https://diverseeducation.com/article/216872/ 

May 27, 2021

"Last semester, I counseled a student whose father was receiving cancer treatment, two whose grandmothers died of COVID-19, an international student who feared that if she returned home she wouldn’t be allowed back into the country for the next semester, an LGBTQ+ student studying from home with homophobic parents and another student who needed immediate mental health support to prevent self-harm -- all in a single day."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/05/27/how-mental-health-crisis-has-changed-work-rabbi-campus-opinion

May 25, 2021

“'I’ve been a Southern Baptist my entire life, I’m a deacon in a Southern Baptist church, but I am no longer aligned with the faith statement of the university simply because of that one belief,' he said. 'I don’t necessarily believe that everyone who is gay or lesbian or non-heterosexual is living a sinful life. That apparently is enough for them not to grant me tenure.'”

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/05/25/conflict-over-power-and-theology-ensues-southwest-baptist-university

May 24, 2021

"The coronavirus pandemic has hurt LGBTQ students in unique and troubling ways, according to a new report by the Point Foundation and the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/24/covid-19-pandemic-and-lgbtq-students

May 24, 2021

"Some Idaho lawmakers have grown antagonistic toward Boise State because of what they perceived as its liberal social and political agenda. In 2019, when Tromp took office as president, lawmakers sent her a letter that listed Boise State programs they considered 'antithetical to the Idaho way,' such as graduation ceremonies for Black and LGBTQIA students, and fellowships for underrepresented minority students. This year they debated whether to cut millions or hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to send the message that they didn’t want the state’s public universities spending their money on social-justice programs."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/a-university-suspended-diversity-courses-because-of-an-incident-that-almost-certainly-didnt-happen

May 21, 2021

"The University of Essex, in Britain, has made public apologies to a female academic disinvited from presenting a seminar, and another disinvited from a Holocaust Memorial Week event at the institution and then reinstated, after objections to their views on gender."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/05/21/british-university-apologizes-disinviting-academics-over-views-gender

May 19, 2021

"The Board of Regents at Baylor University, a Baptist institution in Texas, approved a resolution last week that opens the door to possibly establishing a long-sought-after official LGBTQ+ student group on the campus."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/19/baylor-opens-door-possible-lgbtq-student-group

May 18, 2021

"Bucknell University condemned a "horrific incident" against the LGBTQ student community that occurred last week and announced investigations are underway."

More at CNN at www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/us/bucknell-university-pennsylvania-lgbtq-student-community-incident/index.html

May 17, 2021

"Bucknell University's president, provost and associate provost for equity and inclusive excellence have condemned the harassment of gay students."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/17/bucknell-condemns-harassment-gay-students

May 17, 2021

"Inside, residents of Fran’s House — an on-campus home for LGBTQ students at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. — locked the entrances and watched from the windows, terrified. They called campus public safety officials as the group of nearly 20 men tried to enter, resident adviser Tyler Luong said in a letter to the president of the private liberal arts school."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/17/bucknell-university-lgbtq-harassment/

May 16, 2021

"Officials at Bucknell University have ordered an investigation into what they described as a 'horrific' episode of harassment targeting residents at a house for L.G.B.T.Q. students on its campus in Lewisburg, Pa., last week."

More in the New York Times at www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/us/bucknell-university-lgbtq-harassment.html

May 14, 2021

"Colleges and universities say they value diversity, equity and inclusion, but the faculty members doing this work are seldom recognized for it in any career-advancing way. That’s about to change at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis..... A Faculty Council subcommittee charged with researching the scope of the new policy defined diversity as 'Perceived human differences in appearance, thinking, and actions, shaped by historical and social systems of advantage and disadvantage.' Diversity includes, but is not limited to, 'intersectional identities formed around ideas and experiences related to race, ethnicity, class, color, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, size, disability, veteran status, national origin, religion, language, and/or marital status.'”

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/05/14/iupui-creates-path-promotion-and-tenure-based-dei-work

May 14, 2021

"The Council of Christian Colleges and Universities filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit that seeks to overturn a religious exemption to Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education.

"The lawsuit, filed in March by a group of LGBTQ+ current and former students at a variety of Christian institutions, argues that an exemption for religious colleges included in the Title IX statute is unconstitutional. It contends that the Department of Education is duty-bound to protect LGBTQ+ students at all federally funded colleges, including religious colleges, from discrimination."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/05/14/christian-colleges-seek-defend-title-ix-religious-exemption

May 14, 2021

"President Biden intends to nominate Catherine Lhamon to return to a position she held during the Obama administration as assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, paving the way for familiar civil rights policies.

"If she’s confirmed by the Senate, Lhamon will take the lead on issues in education related to race, sexual assault and harassment, and LGBTQ rights -- and she’s expected to be active and aggressive in her approach."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/05/14/lhamon-nominated-assistant-secretary-civil-rights

May 13, 2021

"President Joe Biden will nominate attorney Catherine Lhamon to lead the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, a post she held with the Obama administration. 

"The office dictates federal policy concerning sexual misconduct and LGBTQ and racial discrimination in education. Lhamon is well-known for guiding the Obama administration's approach to campus sexual assault." 

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/bidens-pick-of-catherine-lhamon-as-civil-rights-head-could-mean-a-return-t/600159/

(See also Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/blogs/higher-ed-under-biden-harris/biden-nominates-education-dept-official-known-for-aggressive-title-ix-enforcement.)

May 4, 2021

"More than 64 percent of the faculty members who identified as 'gay, lesbian, queer, (or ‘other’ sexual orientation)' on the survey reported receiving threats of harm, while only 35.8 percent of those who identified as straight reported threats. Four out of five respondents who identified as transgender experienced threats that the AAUP report said were 'particularly abusive.'”

More on Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/faculty-report-threats-and-hate-mail-after-appearing-in-campus-reform-articles

April 29, 2021

"The American feminist’s D.Phil. dissertation has attracted interest in recent years because it was the basis for her 2019 book, Outrages: Censorship and the Criminalisation of Love, which was pulped by her U.S. publisher after she wrongly claimed that Britain had in the Victorian era executed several men for being gay."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/29/naomi-wolf-dissertation-prompts-criticism-oxford

or Times Higher Education at www.timeshighereducation.com/news/oxford-doctoral-system-criticised-wolf-thesis-finally-released

April 29, 2021

"Recently, the advocacy arm of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which calls itself a free-market think tank, has been peppering the state’s residents with robocalls and radio ads that say public colleges are teaching students 'to hate America,' The Chronicle reported. In 2019, the foundation’s director took issue with a letter from Boise State’s president that mentioned, among other things, the university’s graduation ceremonies for Black and LGBTQIA students. The director said the state’s colleges and universities 'have joined the legion of left-leaning institutions that are using their campuses as state-sponsored platforms for intolerance, division, and victimhood.'”

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/idaho-lawmakers-think-critical-race-theory-can-exacerbate-and-inflame-divisions-so-they-passed-a-law-against-it

April 28, 2021

"A group of students filed suit Monday against Yeshiva University in an attempt to compel the Jewish institution in New York City to recognize an LGBTQ+ student club."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/28/yeshiva-students-sue-seeking-recognition-lgbtq-student-club

April 22, 2021

"Faculty at Seattle Pacific University voted no confidence in the Board of Trustees after the board announced last week that it would retain a hiring policy that discriminates against LGBTQ+ individuals, The Seattle Times reported."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/22/seattle-pacific-faculty-odds-board-over-lgbtq-policy

April 22, 2021

"Three former women's cross-country, track and field athletes at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the college and their former head coach, director of athletics and a former teammate, alleging that the team had a culture of discrimination against female and lesbian athletes and that the college did not respond adequately when the athletes were sexually assaulted during or after team parties."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/22/lawsuit-claims-canisius-college-discriminated-against-female-athletes

April 20, 2021

"Students at the University of Missouri are confused and upset about pending changes to top staff positions at campus centers focused on supporting underrepresented groups on campus, including LGBTQ and Black students and survivors of sexual assault.

"The university plans to eliminate coordinator positions at five social justice-focused centers that are part of the Division for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, including the LGBTQ Resource Center, Women’s Center, Gaines/Oldham Black Culture Center, Multicultural Center and Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevention Center, according to a private message shared with members of the LGBTQ Resource Center."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/20/u-missouri-students-protest-diversity-and-inclusion-staff-restructuring

April 20, 2021

"Leaders of national sororities delayed a vote last week on whether to allow their organizations to change their definitions of 'women' in order to be more inclusive of nonbinary members, according to a statement from Dani Weatherford, CEO of the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella organization that governs the policies and practices of 26 national and international sororities."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/20/sororities-delay-vote-inclusion-nonbinary-members

April 14, 2021

"Leaders of the National Collegiate Athletic Association are throwing their economic weight and influence behind transgender athletes ability to participate in college sports by threatening to pull lucrative championship events from states with discriminatory laws."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/14/ncaa-threatens-move-events-out-states-anti-transgender-athlete-legislation

April 13, 2021

"Three Christian higher education institutions are petitioning a federal district court to allow them to intervene as defendants in a lawsuit challenging the religious exemption to Title IX, a nearly 50-year-old law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at federally funded colleges... [Students] argue that the exemption to Title IX for religious institutions as it’s applied to LGBTQ+ students is unconstitutional and has left LGBTQ+ students unprotected in the face of their colleges’ discriminatory policies."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/13/colleges-seek-intervene-title-ix-religious-exemption-suit

April 9, 2021

"If passed, the amendment would mark a radical departure from the sororities’ original frameworks and foundations, which are based in womanhood and women’s empowerment. The organizations have hundreds of chapters on college campuses nationwide that are known as women-only groups, with expectations and traditions rooted in stereotypical feminine ideals..... As the NPC embarks on this decision, men's fraternities in the North American Interfraternity Conference, the umbrella organization that encompasses 58 Greek organizations, already leaves it up to individual member groups to define 'men' in their membership policies... One fraternity in the conference, Delta Lambda Phi, was founded by gay men and last year officially opened its fraternity to all individuals other than cisgender women..."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/09/sororities-vote-nonbinary-inclusion-policy

April 7, 2021

"The U.S. Department of Education has started a review of the rules issued over Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, in response to President Biden's executive order last month."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/04/07/education-department-starts-review-title-ix

April 7, 2021

"American Educational Research Association (AERA) President Dr. Shaun R. Harper and executive director Dr. Felice J. Levine have released a statement against transphobia and in support of transgender and non-binary persons ahead of the AERA 2021 annual virtual meeting that kicks off this week."

More at Diverse: Issues In Higher Education at https://diverseeducation.com/article/210880/

April 6, 2021

"Courtney Bullard, a former campus counsel who now advises colleges, said she expects the Biden administration to expand the current definition of harassment under Title IX to include more types of sexual misconduct, and also to cover sexual orientation and gender identity. Harassment is currently defined as conduct that is “so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive” that it denies a person access to an education."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/biden-is-taking-a-fresh-look-at-title-ix-heres-what-to-expect

April 6, 2021

"Sexual orientation and gender identity are protected classes under Title IX, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a newly released memo to federal agencies."

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/justice-dept-sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-are-protected-under-ti/597882/

April 6, 2021

"Biden pledged to unravel the Title IX rule put forth by former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, which was broadly unpopular among campus leaders and advocates for sexual violence prevention. "

More on Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/ed-dept-starts-review-of-devoss-title-ix-regulation/597870/

April 6, 2021

"About 30 current and former students at evangelical colleges filed suit last week against the U.S. Department of Education, asking that the religious exemption to a federal law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at educational institutions be declared unconstitutional in how it is applied to LGBTQ students."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/06/lgbt-students-sue-education-department-over-title-ix-religious-exemption

April 5, 2021

"LGBTQ advocacy groups are calling on college athletic departments to support the participation of LGBTQ students in intercollegiate athletics and to affirm their right to protection in the face of growing political hostility."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/04/05/athlete-ally-releases-lgbtq-equality-ratings-division-i-institutions

March 31, 2021

"Thirty-three current and former students at Christian colleges that receive federal funds have sued the Education Department, saying that a religious exemption given to religious colleges is unconstitutional, The Washington Post reported."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/31/gay-students-sue-education-department-over-religious-colleges

March 31, 2021

"Referring to people by their preferred gender is a matter of respect. Judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit disagreed. In a recent ruling, they elevated a professor’s decision to misgender a student as a matter of academic freedom. In so doing, the court legitimized aggression against those of us who are differently gendered."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/31/misgendering-students-is-not-academic-freedom-its-an-abuse-power/

March 30, 2021

"The suit says the religious exemption the schools are given that allow them to have discriminatory policies is unconstitutional because they receive government funding. The class-action suit, filed by the nonprofit Religious Exemption Accountability Project, references 25 schools across the country."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/religion/christian-colleges-lawsuit-lgbtq-equality-act

March 29, 2021

"Two-dozen national sororities will soon vote on a policy change that would open the door for more gender-nonbinary students to join — a sign of evolving attitudes around campus groups that have traditionally been restricted to women."

More at Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/sororities-could-soon-welcome-gender-nonbinary-students

March 29, 2021

"A Christian professor of philosophy who was reprimanded for refusing to refer to a trans student as a woman can pursue his lawsuit against Shawnee State University in Ohio, a federal appeals court said Friday."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/29/court-sides-professor-who-repeatedly-misgendered-trans-student

March 27, 2021

"It was the first day of the spring semester at Shawnee State University... [Prof] Meriwether had called the student 'sir' when she raised her hand. That was incorrect, she told him. She identified as a woman, she said, and asked him to address her accordingly.... But he refused her request, saying his Christian faith prevented him from talking about gender in a way he believed to be false. He instead proposed calling her only by her last name."

More at Washington Post at www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/03/27/transgender-pronouns-shawnee-state-professor/

March 26, 2021

"A group of alumni at Lee University, a Christian institution in Tennessee, organized a petition drive to protest recent statements by President Mark Walker reaffirming the university’s long-held stance, articulated in the university's 'community covenant,' holding that same-sex sexual relationships are prohibited by Scripture. The alumni argue in an open letter signed by about 750 people that Walker’s comments during a March 11 chapel service 'were and are harmful to queer students: their mental and emotional health; their physical safety; their relationship with the college, the church, and their peers; and their academic success.'"

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/26/alumni-speak-out-after-lee-president-affirms-christian-university

March 25, 2021

"The University of Rhode Island is distancing itself from an endowed professor of gender and women’s studies who recently wrote about what she calls the 'trans-sex fantasy.'”

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/25/professor-odds-her-university-over-gender-identity

March 23, 2021

"A federal appeals court ruled Monday that University of Iowa administrators can be held personally liable and sued for damages due to their actions deregistering a Christian student group that denied a leadership position to a gay student."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/23/appeals-court-says-iowa-administrators-are-personally-liable-lawsuit-brought

March 22, 2021

"Actor Daniel Franzese, best known for his work in the comedy Mean Girls, has accused Walsh University, a Roman Catholic institution, of canceling a contract with him because he is gay. Franzese posted a YouTube video Thursday saying he had been asked to host the university’s Mr. Walsh pageant this month. The contract was complete in February, but one week before the event, he was contacted by the student activities director, who canceled the arrangement."

More at Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/22/actor-says-walsh-u-canceled-contract-because-sexual-orientation

March 18, 2021

"President Biden killed a controversial Trump-era executive order banning “divisive concepts” in federally funded diversity training upon taking office. Now Iowa legislators are seeking to revive the ban within their state."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/18/trumps-diversity-training-ban-finds-new-life-iowa

March 17, 2021

The Education Department under the Biden administration hasn't taken a position, but is it is likely to reverse targeting of Franklin Pierce University's policies on transgender athletes during the Trump administration.

More at Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/17/education-department-not-likely-oppose-transgender-athletes-competing-women

March 15, 2021

"LGBTQ+ students attending Christian colleges and universities with anti-LGBTQ+ policies are 15 times more likely to report that their sexuality or gender identity kept them from being accepted by others on campus compared to their peers, according to a new survey of 3,000 students conducted by the surveying company College Pulse on behalf of the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP), which promotes equality for LGBTQ+ students at Christian colleges."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/15/survey-finds-lgbtq-students-attending-religious-colleges-struggle-belonging

March 11, 2021

"A women’s group at a Berkeley, Calif., high school filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Education Monday, seeking an immediate order from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to 'set aside' Trump administration regulations for how K-12 schools and colleges address sexual misconduct."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/11/new-lawsuit-filed-against-title-ix-regulations

March 8, 2021

"Biden Orders Review of Title IX Regulations
"President Biden signaled on Monday that he wanted to see changes in the 2020 Title IX regulations that bolstered protections for those accused of sexual misconduct and drew criticism from victims’ advocates."

More at the Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/higher-ed-under-biden-live-updates

March 8, 2021

"The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled Friday that Gordon College is a religious college, but that an associate professor of social work is 'not a ministerial employee.' If she were a ministerial employee, Gordon could not be sued for various forms of alleged wrongdoing. In this case, Margaret DeWeese-Boyd is suing Gordon, charging that she was not promoted to a full professor, despite backing from the Faculty Senate, because of her opposition to Gordon's policies opposing gay rights. The courts have not ruled on the underlying allegations."

More at Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/03/08/court-gordon-religious-professor

March 8, 2021

"Biden released a second executive order on Monday — International Women's Day — that establishes a Gender Policy Council within the White House. It will attempt to advance gender-equitable policies and address systemic discrimination across the federal government, an administration official said on a call with reporters Sunday night."

More on Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/new-biden-executive-order-calls-for-review-of-title-ix-rule/596298/

March 3, 2021

"Black students and gay and lesbian students were more likely to report mental health concerns related to social isolation. Latino students reported less social isolation after they left campus and returned to their homes."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/10/live-updates-latest-news-coronavirus-and-higher-education

March 1, 2021

The Common Application is today announcing a series of changes to make the application more inclusive for transgender applicants. 

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2021/03/01/common-application-adds-questions-transgender-students

February 17, 2021

"Indigenous students reported the highest rates of negative mental health related to the pandemic compared to students in all other racial and ethnic groups who visited their college counseling centers last year, according to new data released by the Center for Collegiate Mental Health. Black, Hispanic or Latino, and Indigenous students also reported the highest rates of grief and loss, a blog post about the data said.

"Between 71 and 72 percent of American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander students who started treatment through their college counseling center reported negative mental health impacts due to COVID-19, a higher rate than Black students (56 percent), Hispanic or Latino students (65 percent), Asian students (62 percent) and white students (68 percent), the CCMH blog post said. LGBTQ students, especially nonbinary, pansexual, queer and transgender male students, also experienced higher rates of negative mental health during the pandemic than their non-LGBTQ peers, the post said."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/02/17/indigenous-and-lgbtq-students-mental-health-most-hurt-pandemic

February 16, 2021

"These are bad times for literary studies. The catastrophically constricted job market for English Ph.D.s conveys the culture’s contempt for professional literary scholarship in the clearest terms. But there’s also trouble inside the English department, where disciplinary self-scrutiny has become an increasingly prominent feature of our everyday conversations. The news here is no less dire: The picture of academic literary interpretation that emerges from the most prominent salvos in what are sometimes called the “method wars” is of a fundamentally contemptible practice — laughably inattentive to obvious truths and motivated by an unsavory will-to-power — that it’s hard to imagine anyone wanting to pay for."

More at the Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/queer-theory-and-literary-criticisms-melodramas

February 9, 2021

"Efforts to create gender neutral forms have come out of the LGBTQ community and the younger generation. Early adapters of non-binary language in Spanish used symbols such as the @ sign or an x in place of the masculine -o and feminine -a endings, a famous example being Latinx.  However, the question of pronunciation in spoken language creates a challenge and recent efforts have focused on the -e ending, which is already gender-neutral."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/02/09/academic-minute-gender-neutral-language

or AAC&U's Academic Minute page at https://academicminute.org/2021/02/deborah-bennett-berklee-college-of-music-gender-neutral-language/

January 29, 2021

"When the Biden administration appointed Suzanne Goldberg, a Columbia University law professor and top university administrator, to oversee civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education last week, some civil rights advocates believed it signaled a new era of federal protections for LGBTQ students and a revival of policies requiring colleges to respond to and prevent sexual assaults on campus."

More at Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/01/29/biden-appointee-champion-lgbtq-rights-has-checkered-past-columbia-u

January 28, 2021

"In 2016, the National Institutes of Health recognized sexual and gender minority populations as a health disparity population, due to higher rates of depression, suicide, anxiety disorders, and substance use disorders compared with their heterosexual and cisgender peers."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/01/28/academic-minute-parents-lgbtq-youth

or AAC&U's Academic Minute page at https://academicminute.org/2021/01/joshua-goodman-rhodes-college-parents-of-lgbtq-youth/ 

January 23, 2021

"Biden’s order used as its basis the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock ruling, which said that Title VII, the civil-rights law covering employment, protects LGBTQ workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. By that logic, the order stated, 'laws that prohibit sex discrimination, including Title IX … prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.'”

More on Chronicle of Higher Education at: www.chronicle.com/article/higher-ed-under-biden-live-updates

Also find the Executive Order here: www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/20/executive-order-preventing-and-combating-discrimination-on-basis-of-gender-identity-or-sexual-orientation/

January 13, 2021

"Jéaux Rinedahl, an adjunct professor of nursing at Seattle Pacific University, says he was told last year he did not qualify for an open full-time position because he is gay. He says he was encouraged to keep teaching on a part-time basis, however. Seattle Pacific is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church. Rinedahl, a Christian, is now suing the institution."

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/01/13/adjunct-says-he-was-denied-full-time-job-being-gay

January 12, 2021

"The United States Department of Education’s Office of the General Counsel published a memorandum on Friday that states that LGBTQ students are not expressly included in protections under Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded institutions." [Note: This Trump Administration memo is not guiding Biden Administration interpretation.]

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2021/01/12/dept-ed-says-title-ix-does-not-apply-lgbtq-discrimination

January 8, 2021

"In 1978, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay politician elected to public office, gave what has come to be known as 'The Hope Speech.'”

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/views/2021/01/08/higher-education-seems-have-been-bystander-assault-democracy-opinion

December 14, 2020

"The numbers -- which reflect the searches of 1.5 million high school students -- show increases for students seeking campuses identified as LGBTQ inclusive, colleges with a high international student population and colleges where at least 50 percent of students are female."

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/12/14/naviance-searches-show-high-school-students-seek-diversity-colleges

December 11, 2020

"The Biden administration should additionally support key congressional legislation to combat sexual harassment in schools and improve the Department of Education’s collection of data on sex discrimination on campuses, the letter said. The newly staffed department should also address the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that protects LGBTQ people from employment discrimination and issue new Title IX regulations that offer similar protections for LGBTQ students on campus, the letter said."

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/12/11/gender-equity-groups-urge-biden-rescind-devos-title-ix-rules

November 27, 2020

"In a year of curve balls, the northern Michigan LGBT+ community has faced their own set of challenges through the coronavirus pandemic.... Central Michigan University’s LGBTQ Services and Gender Equity Program helps hundreds of queer and transgender students every year, and director Shannon Jolliff-Dettorre has gone above and beyond to reach students virtually while they can’t meet face to face."

More on WWTV TV here www.9and10news.com/2020/11/27/central-michigan-universitys-lgbtq-services-supports-youth-through-virtual-programming/

November 18, 2020

"The University of California has new, systemwide gender identity and name options for UC-issued documents and information systems, it said Tuesday. The university system 'continues to fully embrace diversity in our country,' said President Michael V. Drake, announcing the new policy. John A. Pérez, chair of the UC Board of Regents, said as the state’s third-largest employer, 'UC’s recognition of nonbinary gender identities and lived names supports broader transgender rights, which has been a long time coming for California and the nation.'"

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/18/ucs-new-gender-pronoun-and-lived-name-policy

November 18, 2020

"The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota is standing by an adjunct professor of theology who is gay after a man with a history of harassment reportedly walked around campus demanding that she be fired. The man also passed out fliers featuring images of the professor, Kelly Wilson, and her children. Wilson told KARE-11 that she got a call from campus security alerting her of the man’s presence last month -- as well as some immediate support from colleagues, students and her dean."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/11/18/st-thomas-stands-behind-gay-professor

November 17, 2020

"The results of the 2020 election will bring little solace and comfort to three particular groups on our campuses: 1) undocumented and international students, 2) members of the LGBTQ+ community, and 3) professional staff members. As college administrators, tenured faculty members and others with certain levels of financial and educational privilege, we must understand that, come what may between now and Inauguration Day, the short-term and long-term future for these individuals is murky at best and debilitating at worst."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/views/2020/11/17/three-groups-especially-need-support-between-now-and-inauguration-day-opinion

October 27, 2020

"Q: How does this play out for student groups that are for minority ethnic students, or gay students?

"A: The three main communities involved in this project were diverse extracurricular outlets focused on interests rather than shared socio-demographic characteristics. However, I also conducted 80 interviews with first-year students in order to understand experiences in a broader range of outlets. The findings of those interviews suggest that identity-based communities have potential to reshape students’ experiences with inclusion on campus. For example, in the final chapter of the book, I describe how a small number of students who joined communities for racial and ethnic minority students in tandem with other extracurricular outlets were able to draw on the support of those identity-based communities to navigate marginalizing experiences elsewhere on campus. Having a community of peers who understood the prevalence and impact of racism facilitated some students’ abilities to resist expectations for stereotypical self-presentation. This is a preliminary finding, based on a small number of students who did not conform to the broader patterns described in this book. Nonetheless, this insight joins a growing literature exploring how identity-based organizations might play a role in combating inequality on campus."

More on Inside Higher Ed at: www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/27/author-discusses-his-new-book-about-what-students-dont-know-about-student-activities

October 5, 2020

"A group of Milligan University students and alumni have begun a letter campaign asking the administration and trustees to commit the university against discrimination toward LGBTQ community members, WJHL News has reported. The push comes after a gay professor at Milligan was forced to resign or renounce homosexuality."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/10/05/milligan-students-call-commitment-against-lgbtq-discrimination

September 30, 2020

"Ghassan Moussawi – an ethnographer and a professor of gender and women’s studies and of sociology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign – looks at the daily survival strategies of Beirut’s LGBTQ residents in the face of al-wad in his new book 'Disruptive Situations: Fractal Orientalism and Queer Strategies in Beirut.'”

More from Illinois News Bureau at https://las.illinois.edu/news/2020-09-30/learning-situation

September 29, 2020

"Much of the growth of employment in higher ed involves nonfaculty expert professionals: specialists in disabilities, LGBTQ issues and identity-conscious strategies for student success. We might encourage these specialists to offer classes that speak to the special challenges faced by today’s extraordinarily diverse student population, including low-income students, students of color, international students, students with disabilities, LGBT students, religious minority students, student athletes, students with disabilities, homeless students, transfer students, commuter and part-time students, adult learners, and student veterans. We should remember: many of these nonfaculty professionals are our own Ph.D. recipients, who were unable to find a tenure-track job and who have great expertise to share."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-gamma/how-scale-advising-and-counseling

September 10, 2020

"But Dena Sher, associate vice president of public policy at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the rule will prevent universities from keeping religious student groups from discriminating based on religion, race, sexual orientation and other factors."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/09/10/education-department-finalizes-religious-freedom-rule

March 3, 2021

"Black students and gay and lesbian students were more likely to report mental health concerns related to social isolation. Latino students reported less social isolation after they left campus and returned to their homes."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/03/10/live-updates-latest-news-coronavirus-and-higher-education

September 2, 2020

"The Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, published two letters on Aug. 31 that outline how the department will address complaints of discrimination against LGBTQ students with respect to the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling that extended antidiscrimination protections to LGBTQ workers. Student complaints of discrimination based on LGBTQ status are under the jurisdiction of the department, Kimberly Richey, the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote in one of the letters."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/09/02/ed-dept-updates-response-lgbtq-student-discrimination

U.S. Department of Education letters are at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/frontpage/faq/rr/policyguidance/index.html

August 27, 2020

"Significant health disparities exist among LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, and allies/associates) adults and children."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/audio/2020/08/27/lgbtqia-medical-care

or AAC&U's Academic Minute page at https://academicminute.org/2020/08/alison-pittman-texas-am-university-lgbtqia-medical-care/

August 24, 2020

"...when asked about where and how they spend their time thinking about different issues, students gave low priority to religion. 'Religion is at the bottom of a list that includes race, international students, LGBT issues, you name it. Religion always comes last,' he said. 'I’m not trying to create a situation where religion competes -- rather, one where we take it seriously. Any course on diversity needs to start to include religion as part of the curriculum.'"

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/24/survey-finds-many-college-students-lacking-knowledge-religious-traditions-and

August 24, 2020

"With the new semester looming, a fresh wave of university transitions to online teaching, and the continued onslaught of austerity measures, something has to give. For many institutions, it will be their commitment to diversity. As a result, the university will be whiter, straighter, and less accessible."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/the-university-were-losing

June 17, 2020

"Advocates for religious colleges say Monday’s Supreme Court decision ruling that employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is illegal under federal law raises unanswered questions and concerns for them."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/17/religious-colleges-see-conflict-between-supreme-court-ruling-lgbtq-rights-and-their

June 16, 2020

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision cementing LGBTQ workers' protections from sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination not only put employers on notice, it also signaled to colleges that they must ensure the fair treatment of transgender students playing campus sports and living in residence halls."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/16/landmark-supreme-court-ruling-could-redefine-title-ix

June 15, 2020

"Graduate school is never easy, but as I neared the end of my first year, my Ph.D. training was about to get much harder. It wasn’t that the classes or research were any different. I had simply come to recognize the truth about myself: I was nonbinary, a gender identity sometimes falling under the transgender umbrella. Excited to finally express my true self, I came out to my colleagues and began to pursue my transition. Here I will share some lessons from my own experience as a transgender STEM Ph.D. student in an effort to show other transgender and gender-nonconforming students that they are not alone, as well as to demonstrate ways in which school administrators, faculty and mentors can be better allies and promote the success of transgender students."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/invisible-minority-stem

April 24, 2020

"College campuses can be crucial safe havens for students who spend their childhoods in the closet, secretive about their sexual orientation or gender identity because they live and learn in unsupportive places. Most LGBTQ students report that they feel safer and more included in college than they did in high school. They often come out in college once they find a safe environment to explore their identity, but they might continue to hide it from their families.

"Given the crisis at hand, LGBTQ students are among the most vulnerable, and at high risk of dropping out, faculty members and administrators told The Chronicle."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at www.chronicle.com/article/Covid-19-Sent-LGBTQ-Students/248633

March 8, 2021

"Biden released a second executive order on Monday — International Women's Day — that establishes a Gender Policy Council within the White House. It will attempt to advance gender-equitable policies and address systemic discrimination across the federal government, an administration official said on a call with reporters Sunday night."

More at Higher Ed Dive at www.highereddive.com/news/new-biden-executive-order-calls-for-review-of-title-ix-rule/596298/

March 5, 2020

"The educational system that oversees Brigham Young University released a “clarifying statement” on March 4 about changes made two weeks ago to the university’s honor code, maintaining that same-sex intimacy remains against the rules."

More on Inside Higher Ed at www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/03/05/brigham-young-walks-back-lgbtq-freedoms

February 26, 2020

"Medical students are being mistreated by fellow students, faculty members and supervising residents based on their race, gender and sexual orientation, according to a new study by researchers at Yale University."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/26/study-mistreatment-med-students

February 24, 2020

"Americans are confused about religious freedom. Jenna Reinbold, associate professor of religion at Colgate University, examine why this can have implications for our country."

More at AAC&U's Academic Minute at https://academicminute.org/2020/02/jenna-reinbold-colgate-university-religious-freedom/

February 21, 2020

"Brigham Young University's recent removal of “homosexual behavior” as a prohibited and punishable act under its honor code has caused both celebration and skepticism in the LGBTQ community." 

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/21/brigham-young-removes-policy-same-sex-intimacy

February 20, 2020

"The top Democrat on the Senate’s education committee and 15 other Democratic senators oppose U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s religious freedom rule, saying it would allow more religious institutions to discriminate against gay people and women."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/20/democratic-senators-oppose-religious-freedom-rule

February 19, 2020

"As young people who have grown up with a more expansive concept of gender identity bring those ideas to college classrooms, universities have responded in varying ways, with some professors and schools quickly accommodating a wider range of gender pronouns, and others struggling over whether and how to institute new policies."

More on the New York Times at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/19/us/gender-pronouns-college.html

February 17, 2020

"In a swift reversal of a free speech policy it staunchly defended just a week ago, the University of Louisville has ordered a student who distributed anti-gay literature at a LGBTQ Studies course to have no more contact with the professor of the course or the students enrolled."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/17/louisville-reverses-decision-anti-lgbtq-pamphleteer

February 16, 2020

"What became known as the Dear Colleague Letter, issued by the Obama administration in 2011, laid much of the groundwork. It put colleges on notice that the federal government would hold them accountable for properly investigating sexual-misconduct cases and ensuring that campus environments didn’t impede students’ access to education. Institutions were now responsible for their cultures in ways they hadn’t been before."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Next-Wave-of-MeToo/248033

February 9, 2020

"Many professors, especially those without the protections of tenure, have come to recognize the danger of these situations. All it takes is one irritated or impatient moment — perhaps secretly recorded on a student’s cellphone — to fuel the outrage machine that exists in social-media circles and on conservative outlets like Fox News. Each new controversy feeds the public appetite for stories about misbehaving liberal professors and the narrative, often misleading, that colleges are increasingly unmoored from, and even hostile to, mainstream culture."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at https://www.chronicle.com/article/When-the-Culture-War-Comes-to/248016

February 7, 2020

"Higher education lobbyists are concerned that colleges and universities could be disqualified from getting millions of dollars in federal grants under a draft Trump administration rule, which is aimed at increasing the legal rights of campus religious groups to be able to exclude gay students and others."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/07/colleges-worry-about-implications-religious-freedom-rule

February 7, 2020

"Ashley-Shae Benton, a student at the University of Louisville, was “stunned” to hear about an anti-gay incident that recently occurred on campus. It was not something she expected at a university known for being welcoming of people of all sexual identities."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/07/louisville-student-distributes-anti-lgbtq-literature-classroom

February 6, 2020

"In the wake of anti-gay pamphleteering in an “Introduction to LGBTQ Studies” class, the president of the University of Louisville is seeking to reassure students and faculty members who expressed fear and outrage over its initial handling of the incident."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at https://www.chronicle.com/article/Free-Speech-or-Threat-An/248011

February 6, 2020

"Students in the LGBTQ community at the University of Louisville said they feel targeted and afraid on campus after a student walked into an Introduction to LGBTQ Studies class and distributed anti-gay pamphlets, reported The Courier Journal, a Kentucky news publication."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/06/louisville-permits-distribution-anti-gay-literature

February 6, 2020

"The governing board of the University of North Carolina system will meet on Friday to decide whether to hand out discipline in a bizarre case of alleged interference in a student-government election."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at https://www.chronicle.com/article/2-Trustees-Allegedly-Schemed/248003

February 4, 2020

"Northwestern University canceled a planned event at its Qatar campus involving a Lebanese band whose singer is openly gay after the event became the subject of an anti-gay backlash online, Reuters reported."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/04/northwestern-qatar-event-canceled-after-anti-gay-backlash

February 4, 2020

"Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren caused a stir during a campaign event in Iowa last week when she appeared to say that she’d move ahead with her choice for education secretary only if approved by a transgender youth she had met. Her point was that she wanted to make sure transgender youths felt safe with whoever she chooses."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/04/warrens-comments-choosing-next-secretary-cause-stir

January 24, 2020

"The president of Goshen College offered "profound apologies" on Wednesday to a now-famous alumna who was denied a volunteer coaching position at the institution 11 years ago because of her sexual orientation."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/01/24/belated-apology-high-profile-alumna

January 12, 2020

"Bauder, who arrived at Bloomington after working as a pastor and in an agency for gay-and-lesbian-support services, spoke with The Chronicle about balancing student support and political activism, helping other universities to start offices for LGBTQ students, and counseling students who are trying to maintain relationships with their families as they come out."

More on the Chronicle of Higher Education at https://www.chronicle.com/article/In-25-Years-This-LGBTQ-Campus/247819

January 9, 2020

"Leaders of Methodist colleges welcomed a recent proposal to split the United Methodist Church as a possible resolution to conflict over whether to remain affiliated with the church after it moved last year to strengthen prohibitions on the ordination of LGBT individuals and the performance of same-sex marriages."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/09/proposed-split-united-methodist-church-over-lgbt-issues-welcomed-methodist-college

January 7, 2020

"When the University of Maine College Republicans asked Amy Fried to be their faculty adviser, the group knew Fried was a Democrat who writes a progressive column in the Bangor Daily News."

More on Inside Higher Ed at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/01/07/maine-college-republican-group-moves-right-alienating-some-members