Page 1 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 1 of 12 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
Full Size
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
The Brown and White Vol. 133 No. 6 Tuesday, September 26, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ Surveys spark conversation about LGBTQ inclusivity Students speak out By KAYLA SIPPIN Assistant News Editor Each year, at the beginning of the fall semester, Student Senate sends out a survey asking students to identify the most pressing issues at Lehigh. When surveyed about the biggest problems on campus this year, 65.4 percent of students said parking, 50.2 percent said dining options and 32.5 percent said campus unity. High-risk behavior, diversity and inclusion, and housing and transportation were also identified as important issues. Reagan Sullivan, ’20, a Senate member who helped create the sur-vey, said not much of its content has changed from last year, but questions were reworded to get to the point more quickly and further engage students. The goal of the survey was to See PRIDE Page 3 By FANNY CHEN B&W Staff This year, Lehigh University was ranked No. 14 on Princeton Review’s Top LGBTQ-Unfriendly Campuses. Lehigh has consistently been on this list for the past few years. Last year, it was ranked No. 9. However, Lehigh was also ranked No. 26 on College Choice’s 50 Best Colleges for LGBTQ Students and praised for its high investment in LGBTQ resources. The placement of Lehigh on both lists reveals a discrepancy between campus climate and investment in LGBTQ resources. Chelsea Fullerton, the director of the Pride Center, said although there is an abundance of funding available for LGBTQ resources, it does not necessarily translate into a perfectly inclusive campus culture. Based on her conversations with students at the Pride Center, the resources have been very helpful for LGBTQ stu-dents, but discrimination and harass-ment still exist at Lehigh. Emma Strong, ’18, works at the Pride Center and is the president of Spectrum. She said she’s grateful to have the Pride Center because it’s helped her figure out what she wants to do after graduation. “It’s helped me feel comfortable in my own identity as bisexual,” Strong said. “I personally haven’t experi-enced blatant homophobia towards myself. However, it is apparent on campus that it’s not as LGBT-friendly as other schools.” While Fullerton agrees a dis-crepancy exists, she also said the Princeton Review’s method of rank-ing is unreliable. The Princeton Review only sends a survey to a small sample of students at each school, and the pride ranking is based on one question from the survey. “It’s unfortunate because peo-ple take those rankings very seri-ously when deciding what campus they want to go to,” Fullerton said. “Unfortunately, I think they provide a really limited, if not entirely use-less, perspective on what life is actu-ally like on campus.” Scott Burden, the assistant direc-tor of the Pride Center, said it is con-fusing that Lehigh has been placed on a list with schools that put no investment toward fostering inclu-sive environments for LGBTQ stu-dents. “At the school before us on the list, if you are caught in a relationship with someone in the same gender as you, you can be disciplined through their conduct process,” Burden said. “In fact, you can be kicked out for being gay at many of the universities that appear alongside us on that list.” Both Burden and Fullerton said a more accurate indicator of the Lehigh student experience can be found through the annual campus climate survey. For the past two years, the results of the campus climate survey have revealed that LGBTQ students have more negative experiences at Lehigh than heterosexual or cisgender stu-dents. Burden said it is his understanding that though hostility is not extremely apparent on campus, there are still instances where LGBTQ students feel uncomfortable. There are situ-ations where LGBTQ students may not feel entirely safe when walk-ing on campus with their partners and where non-LGBTQ students unknowingly use offensive language. “I don’t think it’s that apparent how hostile it is necessarily, but (there is) an overall lack of awareness of issues,” said Laura DeFelice, ’19, a member of Spectrum and staff mem-ber at the Pride Center. “People take things lightly because it doesn’t affect them personally. The lack of aware-ness and education on certain things find out what issues are bothering students most and recognize which areas Senate, the administration and campus community need to improve upon this school year. In addition to multiple choice options, students could write in their own answers to elaborate on the issues that are most important to them, which was most telling to Senate. “We’re so focused on our lives at Lehigh, we forget to stop and think about the big picture,” Senate vice president Lindsay Wilson, ’18, said. “So this survey was a really good way for us to think about not just what our issues in our own lives are, but what the general student body feels.” Members of Senate reviewed the See SURVEY Page 3 Senate announces survey results Rallying for relief Lehigh fundraises for Irma victims By LINDSAY SHAGRIN B&W Staff Hurricane Irma hit Florida ear-lier this month, leaving a path of destruction and distress in its wake. The hurricane, which was originally predicted as a Category 5, caused flooding and injuries in Jacksonville, as well as the collapse of multiple construction cranes onto buildings in Miami. In the days following the storm, Lehigh students and alumni contrib-uted to fundraisers and assisted in relief efforts for those impacted by the natural disaster. Dallas Basha, ’17, recently found-ed nTrust, which he described as a “sharing network” where users can rent their belongings to other people for a period of time. “nTrust is a community-based plat-form powered by people and not the See IRMA Page 4 product, and without the community, it would not exist,” Basha said. “So we decided to postpone our oper-ations for the time being and put all of our focus on helping the Irma victims.” Basha said the company’s goal is to raise $20,000, although he would be happy if the company receives half that. So far, the fundraiser has raised about $1,000. In order for nTrust to raise as much money as possible, members of the nTrust team tapped into their networks. For Basha, this included Lehigh’s Greek community. Basha said this was an opportu-nity for chapters “to show that (they are) not just doing the philanthropy scheduled event that (they) usually do.” He said it is an opportunity for
Object Description
Title | Brown and White Vol. 133 no. 6 |
Date | 2017-09-26 |
Month | 09 |
Day | 26 |
Year | 2017 |
Volume | 133 |
Issue | 6 |
Type | Newspaper |
Source Repository | Lehigh University |
Coverage | United States, Pennsylvania, Lehigh, South Bethlehem |
LCCN | 7019854 |
Source Repository Code | LYU |
Digital Responsible Institution | Lehigh University |
Digital Responsible Institution Code | LYU |
Issue/Edition Pattern | Semiweekly |
Title Essay | Published twice a week during the college year by the students of Lehigh University |
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Date | 2017-09-26 |
FullText | The Brown and White Vol. 133 No. 6 Tuesday, September 26, 2017 ‘All the Lehigh News First’ Surveys spark conversation about LGBTQ inclusivity Students speak out By KAYLA SIPPIN Assistant News Editor Each year, at the beginning of the fall semester, Student Senate sends out a survey asking students to identify the most pressing issues at Lehigh. When surveyed about the biggest problems on campus this year, 65.4 percent of students said parking, 50.2 percent said dining options and 32.5 percent said campus unity. High-risk behavior, diversity and inclusion, and housing and transportation were also identified as important issues. Reagan Sullivan, ’20, a Senate member who helped create the sur-vey, said not much of its content has changed from last year, but questions were reworded to get to the point more quickly and further engage students. The goal of the survey was to See PRIDE Page 3 By FANNY CHEN B&W Staff This year, Lehigh University was ranked No. 14 on Princeton Review’s Top LGBTQ-Unfriendly Campuses. Lehigh has consistently been on this list for the past few years. Last year, it was ranked No. 9. However, Lehigh was also ranked No. 26 on College Choice’s 50 Best Colleges for LGBTQ Students and praised for its high investment in LGBTQ resources. The placement of Lehigh on both lists reveals a discrepancy between campus climate and investment in LGBTQ resources. Chelsea Fullerton, the director of the Pride Center, said although there is an abundance of funding available for LGBTQ resources, it does not necessarily translate into a perfectly inclusive campus culture. Based on her conversations with students at the Pride Center, the resources have been very helpful for LGBTQ stu-dents, but discrimination and harass-ment still exist at Lehigh. Emma Strong, ’18, works at the Pride Center and is the president of Spectrum. She said she’s grateful to have the Pride Center because it’s helped her figure out what she wants to do after graduation. “It’s helped me feel comfortable in my own identity as bisexual,” Strong said. “I personally haven’t experi-enced blatant homophobia towards myself. However, it is apparent on campus that it’s not as LGBT-friendly as other schools.” While Fullerton agrees a dis-crepancy exists, she also said the Princeton Review’s method of rank-ing is unreliable. The Princeton Review only sends a survey to a small sample of students at each school, and the pride ranking is based on one question from the survey. “It’s unfortunate because peo-ple take those rankings very seri-ously when deciding what campus they want to go to,” Fullerton said. “Unfortunately, I think they provide a really limited, if not entirely use-less, perspective on what life is actu-ally like on campus.” Scott Burden, the assistant direc-tor of the Pride Center, said it is con-fusing that Lehigh has been placed on a list with schools that put no investment toward fostering inclu-sive environments for LGBTQ stu-dents. “At the school before us on the list, if you are caught in a relationship with someone in the same gender as you, you can be disciplined through their conduct process,” Burden said. “In fact, you can be kicked out for being gay at many of the universities that appear alongside us on that list.” Both Burden and Fullerton said a more accurate indicator of the Lehigh student experience can be found through the annual campus climate survey. For the past two years, the results of the campus climate survey have revealed that LGBTQ students have more negative experiences at Lehigh than heterosexual or cisgender stu-dents. Burden said it is his understanding that though hostility is not extremely apparent on campus, there are still instances where LGBTQ students feel uncomfortable. There are situ-ations where LGBTQ students may not feel entirely safe when walk-ing on campus with their partners and where non-LGBTQ students unknowingly use offensive language. “I don’t think it’s that apparent how hostile it is necessarily, but (there is) an overall lack of awareness of issues,” said Laura DeFelice, ’19, a member of Spectrum and staff mem-ber at the Pride Center. “People take things lightly because it doesn’t affect them personally. The lack of aware-ness and education on certain things find out what issues are bothering students most and recognize which areas Senate, the administration and campus community need to improve upon this school year. In addition to multiple choice options, students could write in their own answers to elaborate on the issues that are most important to them, which was most telling to Senate. “We’re so focused on our lives at Lehigh, we forget to stop and think about the big picture,” Senate vice president Lindsay Wilson, ’18, said. “So this survey was a really good way for us to think about not just what our issues in our own lives are, but what the general student body feels.” Members of Senate reviewed the See SURVEY Page 3 Senate announces survey results Rallying for relief Lehigh fundraises for Irma victims By LINDSAY SHAGRIN B&W Staff Hurricane Irma hit Florida ear-lier this month, leaving a path of destruction and distress in its wake. The hurricane, which was originally predicted as a Category 5, caused flooding and injuries in Jacksonville, as well as the collapse of multiple construction cranes onto buildings in Miami. In the days following the storm, Lehigh students and alumni contrib-uted to fundraisers and assisted in relief efforts for those impacted by the natural disaster. Dallas Basha, ’17, recently found-ed nTrust, which he described as a “sharing network” where users can rent their belongings to other people for a period of time. “nTrust is a community-based plat-form powered by people and not the See IRMA Page 4 product, and without the community, it would not exist,” Basha said. “So we decided to postpone our oper-ations for the time being and put all of our focus on helping the Irma victims.” Basha said the company’s goal is to raise $20,000, although he would be happy if the company receives half that. So far, the fundraiser has raised about $1,000. In order for nTrust to raise as much money as possible, members of the nTrust team tapped into their networks. For Basha, this included Lehigh’s Greek community. Basha said this was an opportu-nity for chapters “to show that (they are) not just doing the philanthropy scheduled event that (they) usually do.” He said it is an opportunity for |
Tags
Comments
Post a Comment for Page 1