Chapter 8: From Football to Lecture Hall: LGBTQ Perceptions of Campus Climate

LGBTQ¹ campus climate surveys have a well-established history in academia; however, research examining the unique difficulties and discrimination faced by LGBTQ students, faculty, and staff specifically is still relatively new. For many sexual orientation and gender identity minority students, college is the first opportunity to safely explore and express their identity and to connect with other members of the LGBTQ community; for others, the college environment is perceived to be so unsupportive that they consider leaving the institution (Rankin, Weber, Blumenfeld, & Frazer, 2010). Given the importance of campus climate research as a tool to inform policy and curriculum decisions, the current study attempts to build on existing scholarship by using a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) paradigm to examine perceived LGBTQ discrimination among college students at a medium-sized public university in the Southeastern United States. Its purpose is to increase understanding of the LGBTQ experience in the college environment, which may assist universities seeking to provide a safe and enriching campus ripe for self-exploration and identity formation for all members of the student body.