International LGBT Services and Current Best Practice Efforts
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A brief conference piece I presented at the 2014 NASFA Drive In, hosted in Columbus, OH. This presentation explains my process of research as a graduate intern in the LGBT Center at Case Western Reserve University in the 2014 spring semester. Throughout my internship I studied the best practice efforts of universities across the country for serving international LGBT students from many different areas of the world studying in America. The research is on-going and CWRU will continue to grow their action plan in the year ahead.
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International LGBT Services and Current Best Practice Efforts
- 1. Presented by Liz Roccoforte and Brandi Hoffman
- 2. Introductions • Liz Roccoforte Director of the LGBT Center at Case Western Reserve University • Brandi Hoffman Graduate Student Intern from the Kent State Higher Education Administration program
- 4. The Beginning Analysis • Taking into consideration what is currently in place at your institution in support of the LGBT community and how the resources being provided are either helping or possibly hindering the experiences of international students that identify as LGBT.
- 5. Putting the Puzzle Together • Contacting Jason Jackson • Focusing the effort & identifying the starting point. – LGBT friendly names for Counseling Center on campus – LGBT names at the Health Center – Names of student groups, especially those that are LGBT friendly – Support in the greater area of the university community – Fun hang out spots that are LGBT friendly in the greater university community – Campus and community LGBT climate
- 6. Collaboration is Key • Identifying offices on campus of essential collaboration – ISSO- International Student Services Office – Counseling center – Orientation programs – Institutional Research
- 7. Consider Your Context • The best practice efforts depen on your institutional context • Consideration of what might best serve the international student population on your campus • Chinese students are the largest international population at Case’s campus • Student’s understanding of help seeking and comfort level of disclosing sexual orientation to others 2013 996
- 8. Our Action Steps • Starting with the fundamentals • Resource Guide creation – Who else is doing this/ good resources to utilize • What do you include? – What are the students looking for? • Institutional Research data • Creating and strengthening relationships on our campus
- 9. Future Possibilities & Current Best Practice Efforts Cornell University – OUT International Minnesota University Twin Cities – LGBT International Drop In Sessions
- 10. Questions?
Editor's Notes
- Mini introductory piece about the LGBT center at Case Western Clarification: LGBT students who are studying here not vice versa
- Chinese graduate student of business school came into Liz’s office looking for help. Wasn’t relating to classmates who were American was not comfortable exposing self to other Chinese students in the program Where there is one student on campus there are many invisible student going through similar experiences
- My interest in international students and LGBT issues became my internship project in the office First approach to research was focused on creating a program, structured similar to discussion groups LGBT center hosts (ex. A-sexuality, relationships, Girls Like Us, Guys Like Us) Research focused on the current LGBT climate in China (Case’s largest international student population) and gathering good resources to have Started to realize how large of a project this could become in the respect of trying to research all international populations of campus Research lead me to discover the program at the University of Minnesota Breaking down this slide: “Taking into consideration what is currently in place at your institution in support of the LGBT community” Important to note: Case does have an LGBT Center We have a very supportive community for the most part “How the resources being provided are either helping or possibly hindering the experience of international students that identify as LGBT” Must recognize how inclusive the clubs or organizations that are currently in place are to international students Beginning to analyze how we see and understand providing support to these students and if that support is best serving to the population we want to serve
- Conversation with Jason from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Biggest take away point from our conversation: First focus was on the creation of resources and the identification of collaborative offices on campus Current LGBT groups are great resources yet most are majority white and may be unsure/afraid to offend an international student If the LGBT Center sponsors a conversation group/ program that may be a turn off for international students Resources that include things like those listed on this slide are a great way to start Similar input provided to me after speaking with the student who help inspire this idea through Liz Moved into a second phase of my research, focusing not on programming but ways to provide resources and a create a culture of support through access to self help information first in consideration of student privacy concerns
- Working for LGBT identified areas of support on campus (the strength of just that alone to start is great) through things like Safe Zone training, faculty and staff supportive names on campus webpage Focusing these efforts in areas like the ISSO will allow for more exposure to international students from the start of their time on campus. Providing paper resources in these areas for take away could be useful Finding a way to start collecting data related to this topic could greatly enhance your cause in the future What services or connections could we make within each of these offices? What other offices could be on this list? -Residence Life -Campus Police/Saftey ISSO at Case committed to: Pamphlets and updating the website
- Case International Population http://www.case.edu/president/cir/pdfiles/enrolltrendsalllbystatecountry.pdf Looking to the very near future: What are other large international student populations that are coming here to study or that are already here? Where do international students on your campus come from if there is a majority?
- Refer to resource guide for answers to this slide
- Slides are hyperlinked to websites of the programs