Stonewall's Legacy E-Book

Susan B. Marine

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: J-B ASHE-ERIC Report Series (AEHE)
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 260

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Contemporary American colleges are increasingly queer places, wheresignificant steps toward inclusion of BGLT students have been made.Tracing the journey of BGLT students' emergence, which parallelsthe modern gay rights movement in America, this monograph providesan overview of data and theory derived from studying BGLT studentsand student movements in higher education. Offering context for theways that previously marginalized students in higher educationsurvive and thrive, this issue: * Tells the story of their growing visibility on campus * Summarizes collective knowledge to date about BGLT identitydevelopment * Takes stock of transgender students' distinctive position andexperiences in higher education * Assesses the role of the BGLT campus resource center insupporting students and advancing equity. This issue develops a picture of the ways that BGLT communityactivism informs scholarship (and vice versa). In the telling ofthe movement's stories, these lessons suggest a practice ofcollaborative transformation for advancing the future of BGLTequality in higher education. This is Volume 37 Issue 4 of the Jossey-Bass publicationASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is thedefinitive analysis of a tough higher education problem, based onthorough research and institutional experiences. Topics areidentified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholarsare then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providingcritical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

Leseprobe

Contents

Executive Summary

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction and Overview

Who Are BGLT College Students? A Historical Overview

BGLT Student History Pre-Stonewall: What Do We Know?

Stonewall Approaches: BGLT Visibility and Marginality in the Twentieth Century

Stonewall and Its Aftermath: The Birth of the Homophile Movement

Transgender Lives and Stonewall

BGLT Rights on the College Campus: The Student HomophileMovement

Student Movement Snapshots: BGLT Student Activism at Three Institutions

Queer Student Activism Today

Conclusion: BGLT Student Visibility and Activism After Stonewall

Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Student Development Since Stonewall

Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Identity Development

Beyond the Monolithic Queer: Developmental Theory in Twenty-First-Century Context

Students of Color and Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Identity Development

Intersectionality and Identity Development

Impediments to BGL Student Development in College

Conclusion

Transgender Student Issues and Development After Stonewall

Who Are Transgender College Students?

Transgender Students at Women’s Colleges

Transgender Student Development

The Challenge of Transphobia on Campus

The Resilience of Transgender Students

Transgender Students’ Needs and Services

Conclusion

The BGLT Campus Resource Center

The First BGLT Campus Resource Centers: Their Founding and Purposes

BGLT Centers Today: Their Purposes and Roles

BGLT Students and Campus Climate Assessment

Center Leadership: A “New Profession” in Higher Education

The Politics of BGLT Campus Resource Centers: Contested Territory

Higher Education Student Affairs and BGLT Issues

BGLT Issues in Professional Preparation of Student Affairs Practitioners

Conclusion

Identity and Solidarity: The Next Steps in BGLT StudentInclusion and Equity

Collaborative Transformation

Conclusion

References

Name Index

Subject Index

About the Author

Stonewall’s Legacy: Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Studentsin Higher Education

Susan B. Marine

ASHE Higher Education Report: Volume 37, Number 4

Kelly Ward, Lisa E. Wolf-Wendel, Series Editors

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The ASHE Higher Education Report is indexed in CIJE: Current Index to Journals in Education (ERIC), Current Abstracts (EBSCO), Education Index/Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), ERIC Database (Education Resources Information Center), Higher Education Abstracts (Claremont Graduate University), IBR & IBZ: International Bibliographies of Periodical Literature (K.G. Saur), and Resources in Education (ERIC).

Advisory Board

The ASHE Higher Education Report Series is sponsored by the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), which provides an editorial advisory board of ASHE members.

Ben Baez

Florida International University

Edna Chun

Broward College

Diane Dunlap

University of Oregon

Dot Finnegan

The College of William & Mary

Marybeth Gasman

University of Pennsylvania

Shouping Hu

Florida State University

Adrianna Kezar

University of Southern California

Kevin Kinser

SUNY – Albany

William Locke

The Open University

Barbara Tobolowsky

University of Texas at Arlington

Susan B. Twombly

University of Kansas

Marybeth Walpole

Rowan University

Executive Summary

In summer 1969, a riot started in the streets outside an unassuming gay bar (the Stonewall Inn), in New York City’s West Greenwich Village. As the police raided the bar, a crowd of four hundred patrons gathered on the street outside and watched the officers arrest the bartender, the doorman, and a few drag queens. The crowd eventually grew to an estimated two thousand people. The next night, the crowd returned, even larger than the night before. For two hours, protesters rioted in the street outside the Stonewall Inn until the police sent a riot-control squad to disperse the crowd. The headlines the next day dismissively referred to the event as “the great faggot rebellion” (Clendinen and Nagourney, 1999, p. 23), but four decades later, this event continues to stand as the remarkable, tumultuous beginning of one of the most successful social justice movements in modern history—the movement for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender (BGLT) rights in America. American higher education has been a site of both receptivity and resistance to the aims and goals of this movement, and students have been both the arbiters of change and the ground upon which this change has been wrought. Understanding the history of how BGLT students have made their way into the light on college campuses across America and what their presence means for the ways student affairs educators, faculty, and others imagine and enact higher education is the focus of this monograph.

Each chapter considers the past and present of BGLT student life from a slightly different vantage point. “Who Are BGLT College Students? A Historical Overview” sets the stage by delineating the pre- and post-Stonewall history of students on campus, from the early days of loving furtively and cautiously seeking community to the emergence of so-called “homophile leagues,” the first precursors of BGLT student organizations on campus (Duberman, 1993; Katz, 1992). The slow but steady progress made by student activists to make colleges more BGLT-friendly and more responsive to their needs and concerns has changed with time. The emphases of the movement have changed from individuals seeking simple recognition to groups demanding a place at the table for deciding policies and practices with direct effects on BGLT student lives (Beemyn, 2003b; D’Emilio, 1992; Dilley, 2002a).

“Bisexual, Gay, and Lesbian Student Development Since Stonewall” reviews the beginnings and current status of what we know about student development theory as it pertains to BGLT individuals and communities in higher education. Beginning with naming the limitations of traditional student development theories, the chapter explains and explores the frameworks that focus specifically on BGLT identity, demonstrating their contributions to our understanding of how we can most effectively support BGLT young adults (Cass, 1984; D’Augelli, 1994b; Fassinger, 1998; Savin-Williams, 2001; Troiden, 1994). Over time, our understanding of the complexity of BGLT identity development has become more sophisticated, gesturing to the importance of considering students’ growth and maturation through the lens of intersectionality (Abes and Jones, 2004; Abes, Jones, and McEwen, 2007; Jones and McEwen, 2000).

“Transgender Student Issues and Development After Stonewall” brings current research literature and commentary about the specific needs, concerns, and college experiences of transgender students into the conversation. Transgender students, who share diverse sexual orientations with their bisexual, gay, and lesbian peers, are a group worthy of study and advocacy in their own right. Although their stories have largely been subsumed under the umbrella of “BGLT rights,” evidence suggests they experience distinct developmental paths (Devor, 2004; Morgan and Stevens, 2008). They in turn exhibit unique resiliencies, honed in response to living in environments (like most college campuses) that are hospitable to their presence. Understanding the effects of genderism (Bilodeau, 2005a, 2005b, 2007) on transgender student lives leads to important and necessary modifications to practices and policies in higher education that contribute to their sense of belonging and respect (Beemyn, 2003a, 2005; McKinney, 2005).

The establishment of a “home” in higher education has made a significant difference to many BGLT students experiencing marginality, and BGLT campus resource centers, with professional staff trained as student affairs administrators, often serve as the campus home for advancement of BGLT equity. “The BGLT Campus Resource Center” reviews the post-Stonewall foundations of BGLT campus resource centers and looks at their histories, current functions, professional staff responsibilities, and graduate training roles and responsibilities of student affairs preparation programs in dispatching effective leaders for this new profession in higher education (Sanlo, 2000; Sanlo, Rankin, and Schoenberg, 2002; Zemsky, 1996).

The final chapter provides a synopsis of one institution’s recent movement toward establishing a formalized program of support for BGLT students, illustrating the utility of an approach that brings together the assets of students, faculty, and student affairs administrators in a praxis of collaborative transformation. Building on the notion that differing stakeholders’ strengths and values can (and should) be meaningfully interwoven to create a full picture for improving the campus climate for BGLT people, the chapter delineates and affirms the politics of coalescence. The monograph concludes with a summary of the journey to date, with some of the remaining questions about what is next for BGLT student visibility and equity posed for the future.

Foreword

Susan B. Marine’s monograph on bisexual, gay, lesbian, transgender, and queer (BGLTQ) students presents the fascinating story of how this group of college students and their needs have evolved over time. The monograph adeptly shows this evolution as a function of student activism, increasing knowledge of student development, issues raised by the emergence of the trans student community, and the increased visibility of BGLTQ centers and services on college campuses. Marine shows how these seemingly separate spheres are actually quite interrelated, demonstrating how each has influenced and shaped the other realms in different ways. She argues that much like the mainstream BGLTQ movement, higher education has been significantly transformed by those willing to be visible and public and to push boundaries: the challenge now is to continue to build support and resources that will transform higher education rather than just accommodate these students.

I found this monograph particularly interesting because I think it comes at a time when the higher education community is really trying to figure out its role in supporting students and employees who identify themselves as BGLTQ. The issues raised in the book are ones I see regularly at the University of Kansas (KU), where I work as a professor. KU recently included gender identity and gender expression in its nondiscrimination clause, but we do not yet provide full benefits to individuals who are in BGLTQ relationships. In terms of students, KU has a long history with a gay and lesbian student group. In 1970, the Gay Liberation Front, as it was initially called, saw its primary purpose as educating the university community on the nature and issues about gay people. It should be noted KU declined to formally recognize the Gay Liberation Front when it was first formed, which led to a court case initiated by the students against the university. KU won the case, but the student group was eventually recognized as an official student organization. The student group, now called Queers and Allies, is a strong, visible group on campus. It was helpful to see how other institutions have dealt with the need and concerns of these student groups and to determine in what areas places like KU need to improve and in what areas we are doing things right. It was also helpful to see how our history mirrors that of other institutions. This monograph provides needed perspective and insight into these issues.

The monograph uses a broad array of reports, studies, sources, and anecdotes in a text that is readable and engaging. Indeed, this text is currently the only one that incorporates BGLT history, administrative practices in higher education, and student development theory. Among the monograph’s other strengths is the use of institutional snapshots to provide a contextual analysis of the history of BGLT student activism. Further, the section about the identity development of BGLT students provides a detailed and insightful review of BGLT-related student development theory. This section will be especially helpful to student affairs administrators and people interested in working with college-age students. The section of the monograph on intersectionality provides a thoughtful and current review of literature on multiple identities and the importance of understanding how intersecting identities can affect the experiences of BGLT college students. The transgender-focused sections add an element that is not found in other works about BGL college students.

This monograph will be useful for multiple audiences, including graduate students in student affairs or higher education programs, researchers who are interested in BGLT issues, and, most important, administrators who are looking for important links between scholarship and administrative practice. The section with recommendations at the end of the monograph is thorough and will be helpful to those individuals working directly with BGLT populations on college campuses. I hope you enjoy this monograph as much as I have.

Lisa E. Wolf-Wendel

Series Editor

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to the pioneers of the movement for bisexual, gay, lesbian, and transgender rights, in America and around the world. When it was not socially acceptable to be BGLT, these brave and creative individuals spoke openly, organized tirelessly, and demonstrated fearlessly to ensure greater rights and more visibility in the society for BGLT people. Because of them, I am able to write and speak openly about my identity, my experiences, and my scholarly interests.

Many thanks to the editors of this series, Kelly Ward and Lisa Wolf-Wendel, and the anonymous reviewers who read and commented on this manuscript: Their insights were invaluable to my thinking. I am indebted to my former colleagues on the Working Group on BGLTQ Student Life at Harvard College, who engaged with me in a praxis of collaborative transformation that truly changed history. Finally, I give thanks to my family for their love and support and especially to my beloved partner in life, Karen Harper, whose example of intelligence and kindness is my sustenance.

Introduction and Overview

ON THE WARM, RAINY NIGHT of September 18, 2010, at 8:42 p.m., Rutgers University Freshman Tyler Clementi left a note on his Facebook wall saying that he was sorry, drove his car to the George Washington Bridge in nearby New York City, and jumped to his death in the freezing Hudson River. A talented concert violinist, Tyler was just becoming acclimated to his new life in college, when he began enduring his roommate’s harassment. In the days before Tyler committed suicide, his roommate allegedly (case still pending in court) set up a Web camera in his room and secretly videotaped him being intimate with another man. When Clementi’s roommate broadcast the video footage, the humiliation Clementi experienced overwhelmed him. In despair, he ended his own life (Foderaro, 2010; Nutt, 2010).