Is VCU LGBT Friendly?

It was almost four years ago that Clayton Hall, a freshman at the time, moved into his dorm in Rhoads Hall. As a gay student, Hall had no idea how he would be received by his peers at VCU, a school that prides itself on diversity and inclusiveness. He said his welcome was underwhelming.

“Of course, some people were accepting, but a lot of students just didn’t want anything to do with me,” Hall said. “VCU is more inclusive than a lot of places, but when you think you’re getting ready to come into an environment where they say they’re very inclusive — you expect better.”

Hall is not alone in thinking the university can do more for LGBT students. Campus Pride, a nonprofit that seeks to create safer and LGBT-friendly college and university campuses, gave VCU three and a half out of five stars in their index, which rates universities’ overall friendliness and inclusion toward LGBT students.

The index has eight separate categories that are integrated to create the school’s overall score. In the categories of “LGBTQ campus safety” and “LGBTQ housing and residential life,” VCU scored as low as one and two and a half stars, respectively.

Other categories include “LGBTQ support and institutional commitment,” “LGBTQ academic life” and “LGBTQ student life,” for which VCU earned four and a half stars; “LGBTQ recruitment and retention efforts,” for which VCU earned four stars; and “LGBTQ Counseling and Health” and “LGBTQ policy inclusion,” for which VCU earned three and a half and three stars, respectively.

The lowest of these scores, campus safety of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, may be the most unsettling aspect of the rating. The site details a lack of agenda by the university to prevent hate crimes against students belonging to a gender and sexual minority.

For example, VCU does not have a procedure for reporting LGBT-related incidents of bias or hate crimes, training for hate crime prevention, active outreach to LGBT students and student organizations or training for campus police on gender identity/expression issues.

Hall agrees that such training for not only campus police, but for professors could prove critical in creating a more welcoming environment.

“Maybe more formal classes or training in different social aspects might broaden their understanding of issues thus make them more aware and compassionate,” he said. “People tend to judge others based on their appearance or mannerisms and I would hope that because we’re in an academic setting, professors aren’t making preconceived notions before I turn in my work.”

In the category related to housing and residential life, the recipient of VCU’s second-lowest rating, the site notes that VCU lacks roommate matching for LGBT students to find an LGBT-friendly roommate, gender-inclusive housing for new students, gender inclusive restroom and shower facilities in its on-campus housing and an LGBT living space, theme floors and/or living-learning community.

VCU first participated in the voluntary survey in 2011 and received an overall score of three stars. According to VCU’s news division, the index has served as a “benchmarking tool for the university, providing guidance to what areas need the most work.”

As a part of the institution’s efforts to provide a better experience for gender queer students, it hired its first ever LGBT coordinator in 2014. The role is filled by Michael K. Pisarcik, who is the permanent representative of faculty, staff and students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Also, the VCU Brandcenter in 2014 teamed up with Richmond Region Tourism to create “OutRVA” – a campaign that “outted” Richmond as a gay-friendly place for travelers.

GayRVA.com, a web magazine dedicated to news affecting the gay community in Richmond, reported in 2013 that VCU looked into becoming the fourth major Virginia university with designated LGBT-friendly housing as early as fall 2016. University of Richmond, Old Dominion University and George Mason University are the only three Virginia schools that currently have such housing. Despite this, U of R has three stars on the index while ODU has two and a half. GMU isn’t scored at all.

While it may prove more difficult to measure how receptive the student body at VCU is of LGBT students, Hall said a university program could help steer students toward being more accepting of their peers.

“VCU seems a lot more LGBT-friendly than when I first came into the school,” Hall said. “We’ve become more and more openminded. In the years I’ve been here, I’ve seen more people becoming open to it than when I started.”

While Hall said he thinks the overall VCU student perspective has changed in the last four years, the university has a long way to go before it reaches a point that he sees as completely friendly toward gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students.

“When I think of an environment that’s completely accepting and supportive of LGBT issues, I think that will come with time so you don’t necessarily have to force-feed the idea down the throats of people who don’t support it now,” he said. “Our school has a long way to go. We’re not there yet.”

Fadel Allassan, Staff Writer

Fadel is a sophomore print journalism major. He is fluent in English and French and enjoys writing about politics. // Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn

allassanfg@commonwealthtimes.org