USC QuASA

Hello QuASA Subscribers!

We are very sorry for any confusion caused by the recent newsletter.  We are currently trying out a new system which distributes the newsletter.  There are many intermediate steps which are involved, and because of this there are many bugs and kinks that need to be sorted through.  

The main issue that many of you are reporting is that you are being unsubscribed to the list.  Please do not worry!  You are unsubscribing to the list on the website that we created, not the list which you are actually subscribed to on the USC Webmail System.  If you are getting these emails, please ignore them.  

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Again, we apologize for the confusion.  We are still testing things out.  The next newsletter will also be a test to see how the system will respond, although all the information in the newsletter is still legit!

Thank you for your questions, concerns, comments, and happy thoughts!  We hope you continue to be patient and responsive to our newsletter!  It makes me very happy to see all the reactions to our new newsletter.

LGBT Identifiers on College Application

by Shari Elissa Hawker

In historical news, Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Il., has become the first college in the entire nation to ask incoming students about their sexual orientation and gender identity on their college application.

The question, “Would you consider yourself to be a member of the LGBT {lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender} community?”, with response selections of “yes”, “no” and “prefer not to answer”, appears with other optional questions on the liberal arts school’s 2012-2013 application for enrollment. 

But surprisingly enough, Elmhurst was not expecting to make headlines with their ground breaking addition; the college simply wanted to address the gap in both scholarships and services available to incoming students who identified as LGBT. The college assures applicants’ responses to the questions will bear no weight in determining their likelihood of admission and instead will serve as a better tool to identify prospective students as underrepresented groups. This recognition of LGBT youth as a minority group will give the institution more opportunities to distribute additional scholarships.

Incoming students and transfers who answer “yes” may be eligible for scholarships worth almost one-third of Elmhurst’s entire tuition and receive information about LGBT interest groups and organizations on campus. As the Dean of Admissions, Gary Rold, stated in an interview with the Chicago Sun Times, “Increasing diversity is part of our {school’s} mission statement; this is simply closing the loop, in many ways, of another group who has a very strong identity. It may not be race and religion but it’s an important part of who they are.” 

Rold reasoned being aware of students’ sexual orientation would help school officials better understand their incoming students and ready themselves to provide services and groups that might assist in easier transitions to college life.

USC could learn quite a bit from Elmhurst College. For example, The LGBT Resource Center, which sponsors academic, educational, social programs and advocacy services for the entire campus community, along with Program Board’s Queer and Ally Student Assembly, QuASA, work tirelessly on campus, to ensure students are aware of both the events and programming they provide. However, their marketing and visibility is limited due to the inexact representation of who exactly benefits the most from their services. It would be easier assisting the student body with the proper resources, if we know more about who is interested.

Furthermore, incoming students and transfers could be losing out on scholarship opportunities. The USC  Lambda LGBT Alumni Association awards scholarships to “incoming, undergraduate, and graduate USC students who show a commitment to the LGBT community, regardless of gender or sexual identity”. The specific scholarship information is available online, but if one was not directed towards the site initially, they could be missing out on enrollment-deciding financial aid, that could have otherwise been forwarded to them if a simple box was checked on their college application.

This is not to say USC is behind in any respect to addressing the needs of LGBT or Queer identified students. We have great programming as an university and are actively committed to improving. This is just to say Elmhurst College has set a new standard.