Despite findings, LGBT students feel accepted

    Be it the gay pride flag hanging from the Bolles House on College Avenue or the upcoming National Coming Out Day events, there is no question that the Tufts gay community plays a very visible and involved role on campus.
    That is why some students were surprised when Tufts didn't make the Princeton Review's list of Top 20 Gay Accepting campuses. However, Tom Bourdon, the director of the LGBT center, explained that these results haven't discouraged the Tufts gay community.
    "The methodology used is completely inconclusive when it comes to creating a top 20 list," Bourdon said in an e-mail to the Daily.
    The Princeton Review compiled their list based on answers to only one question from 122,000 students at 371 colleges. Students were asked to respond "yes" or "no" to the statement "Students, faculty and administrators treat all persons equally regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression."
    Bourdon's main concern about the results of the survey lies in how prospective students will interpret them.
    "Teenagers typically don't stop to ask what measures were used, and who had the opportunity to actually respond to the questionnaire," he said.
    Nevertheless, Bourdon noted that potential students have many other resources at their disposal when trying to determine if a campus is accommodating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. One such resource is Campusclimateindex.org, which uses more than 50 measures, and gives Tufts 4.5 out of 5 stars. Another is The Advocate's "Guide for LGBT Students," in which Tufts ranks among the Top 20 "Gay Point Average" scores.
    "I don't think it'll knock us down, but to have other reports that put Tufts on top is good for us," Alex, a senior involved with the LGBT community and activities, said. Alex did not give her last name because she wanted her sexuality to remain private.
    More important than lists, however, are actual Tufts students' experiences.
    "I feel both safe and accepted here at Tufts," Kim, a senior, said about her experience on campus. Kim asked to be quoted anonymously out of concern for the privacy of her sexual identity. "I personally have never come across anyone who has an issue with my sexuality or who I am dating here at Tufts and I have also found that professors and staff on the whole are also very accepting."
    Alex added that despite a few discrimination incidents off campus, her experience has been positive.
    Bourdon reported an increase in students visiting the Tufts LGBT Center "just to hang out," noting that it has always been one of his main goals "for the Center to feel like a space that students consider their second home."
    While the LGBT Center is a useful resource for many students, Kim feels many students do not feel the need to take advantage of it.
    "A lot of gay people on campus do not even feel the need to go to these resources because they are so well accepted by their Tufts community as a whole," she said.
    While Tufts has achieved much in the way of creating a welcoming environment for LGBT students, Alex feels there is still work to be done.
    "There's a need for people to be more active in the community and not to be complacent," she said, adding that studying in a liberal state like Massachusetts may lead to false assumptions that all states are equally as accepting.
    "[If more people] were more active and continued to fight it may improve things even further," she said.
    Bourdon expressed similar opinions, and he noted that one of the LGBT Center's main goals is to encourage all people, not just gay students, to get involved in order to achieve a more universal understanding of LGBT issues.
    Events such as "Guess the Straight Person"and LGBT training with different departments are ways in which Bourdon hopes to bring community members together.
    Cindy Stewart, co-chair of the LGBT Faculty/Staff Caucus, explained that the Center is also working on an initiative to bridge the gap between LGBT students and faculty. This program focuses on "providing support and social networking for LGBT staff and faculty as well as creating an awareness that there are gay faculty members," Stewart said.
    Alex expressed excitement about the program. "Having faculty members who identify themselves as queer individuals will be really beneficial, because they're an additional resource," she said.
    Another way in which the LGBT community is expanding its audience is by offering more courses like Intro to Queer Studies. After an immensely successful spring semester, Professor Jennifer Burtner was asked to offer the course again in the fall due to the high student demand. Whereas the first semester attracted students who were already active in the LGBT and Women's Centers and had wanted to take the course for a while, this semester has drawn students who are not necessarily familiar with queer theory.
    Burtner, along with other faculty members, is currently in the beginning stages of expanding Tufts' queer studies department and course offerings in order to meet the needs and requests of students.
    Burtner explained that interest in LGBT issues is no longer limited to queer individuals. "[It is] not just about an identity; it's a way of looking at the world, human rights and public service, understanding who you are and how you relate to people in larger society," she said.