With Coming Out Month beginning this week, Syracuse University is proving to be the LGBT friendly school it has been identified as in national rankings.

Wednesday’s Chalk the Quad event symbolizes progress toward the acceptance, support and inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students at SU. This event will hopefully inspire and remind LGBT students that the campus community supports them.

Hosted by the LGBT Resource Center, Chalk the Quad provides a platform for students who struggle with their social and LGBT identities.

This is one of many efforts on the SU campus to be LGBT friendly.

SU is one of 28 universities across the country with an LGBT minor, according to the website of College Equality Index. Chase Catalano, director of the LGBT Resource center, said the minor is a successful interdisciplinary minor and is even popular with students who do not identify as LGBT.

SU offers various resources and outlets for LGBT students and supporters, including the You are Not Alone Initiative, Stop Bias Campaign and LGBT student publications, among others.

SU has been nationally recognized for these efforts. It earned the No. 5 ranking in Unigo.com’s “Top 10 Colleges Supporting LGBT Communities.” However, it did not rank in Campus Pride’s “2013 Top 25 LGBT-friendly Colleges/Universities.”

The accountability of these rankings is questionable. This type of information cannot be rated numerically. It is a surface-level approach to campus-wide acceptance. Every college is different, and numerical rankings do not effectively portray a university’s LGBT culture.

Instead, they should be categorical and consider what campus LGBT groups exist and how they are promoting awareness about LGBT issues.

However, regardless of rankings, room always remains for better inclusion of LGBT students. Without inclusion, LGBT students will not feel comfortable expressing their true identities.

The LGBT Resource Center should bolster its presence on campus. Currently, the center is off campus. Students can only find the resource if they are looking for it. Events like Chalk the Quad will not only increase the visibility of LGBT issues on campus, but the resource center will as well.

For now, the chalk that covers the Quad is a reminder to appreciate one’s peers, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Published on October 3, 2013 at 2:32 am

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