FAQs

Student, Staff, and Faculty FAQs

• Why should I care about GLBTQ issues?
• Does Otterbein include sexual orientation and gender expression in its anti-discrimination policies?
• How does Otterbein's affiliation with the United Methodist church inform its status as a gay-welcoming college?
• What is the GLBTQ student experience like at OC?
• Does Otterbein have a gay-straight student alliance?
• Can you give me more concrete examples of sexual prejudice and heterosexual privilege?
• How can the "straight world" support a person that's recently come out?
• Where can I go on campus for more support, assistance, or information?
• What are some resources at other colleges and universities?

Student FAQs

• How do I come out in the classroom?
• How do I come out to a friend or a roommate?
• If I suspect a friend is gay, how can I encourage that person to come out?

Faculty FAQs

• What obstacles can GLBTQ students face in a college classroom?
• How can I create a queer-friendlier classroom?
• How can I respond more effectively to comments that reinforce sexual prejudice?
• Can you point me toward good resources on teaching GLBTQ issues?
• Can the GLBTQ Advisory Commission help me find classroom speakers?
• How can I signal my support for Otterbein's GLBTQ community? can I get an ally or a safezone sticker for my office door?

• Because straight-identified and GLBTQ persons live, work, and learn alongside each other every day - on Otterbein's campus and in the world at large.
• Because ignorance, insensitivity, invisibility, and sexual prejudice can create a hostile learning environment - a culture of fear and exclusion - that destroys intellectual trust and diminishes our collective humanity.
• Because GLBTQ-related issues - domestic partnership benefits, same-sex marriage, civil rights, "don't ask, don't tell" - are at the forefront of national political conversations and social realities that impact our daily lives.
• Because GLBTQ individuals, literature, art, issues, and theory are part of a college curriculum.
• Because respect is a verb - an action and an ethic that must be lived.

1. Otterbein's Social Issues Policy recognizes that "Sexuality is an important attribute of a human being. It deserves to be treated, in one's self and others, with dignity, respect, decency, and responsibility. Sexual behavior which is publicly offensive, exploitive of the other person, or in violation of the law may result in disciplinary action up to and including dismissal." The policy goes on to recognize that "sexual misbehavior" includes "verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature" that "creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment."
2. The College's Sexual Harassment Policy asserts, "Consistent with its heritage as a religiously affiliated Liberal Arts College, Otterbein College strives to maintain an academic and working environment based on the principle of the dignity and worth of every human being. The intimidation, harassment, or abuse of any person based on gender or on sexual orientation is a violation of this fundamental principle of the College community."
3. The Affirmative Action Policy holds that Otterbein will not discriminate in our admissions or financial aid practices "on the basis of race, sex, religion, ancestry, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation, disabling condition, veteran status or marital status."
4. In its Judicial Violations Policy, Otterbein's definition of "disorderly conduct" extends to "any conduct or action that causes inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm to others, or which interferes with the rights of individuals (including the right to quiet study), disturbs the peace, endangers personal well being or causes a risk of/or physical harm to public or private property." Although the policy doesn't explicitly name gender- or orientation-based forms of harassment, it does acknowledge that "disruptive behavior" includes "abusive or insulting language." And it indicates that such actions are "subject to disciplinary action, including restitution for damage." More pointedly, the college's "intimidation" policy lists "sexual intimidation" among the behaviors that "violate the privacy and dignity of individuals . . . and [breach] state and federal laws."

*For more information about relevant College policy and possible disciplinary actions, see the most recent Campus Life Handbook or go to www.otterbein.edu/studentlife

• It was one of the first coeducational colleges in the country, and the first to admit women to programs of study that were traditionally reserved for men.
• In addition, Otterbein was one of the first colleges in the U.S. to open its doors to students of color, and it was likely the first institution to found itself on a philosophy of equity and inclusion.

• GLBTQ students and their allies are active - and represented - in every facet of student life at Otterbein College: College Senate, Judicial Council, campus committees, athletics, the Resident Assistant program, Greek life, academic disciplines, student organizations, theater, music, and art.
• No college campus is immune to social tensions or diversity issues, but in both policy and practice, Otterbein works to safeguard an inclusive, welcoming, and secure learning environment for all students. When the codes of our community are breached, we take quick and measured action. The GLBTQ Advisory Commission is a product of that social contract. It was established to make an anti-homophobic presence more visible on campus and to serve as a catalyst of education, awareness, and support.
• Downtown Columbus offers our students further access to rich, thriving aspects of GLBTQ culture such as gallery hops, theater, art, film festivals, pride parades, and activist interventions.

• Insensitivity: words like "fag" and "that's so gay" circulating in ordinary conversation as if they're empty of meaning
• Sterotypes and assumptions: the unexamined belief that everyone is heterosexual or that a "date" or a romantic partner is always a member of the opposite sex; "misreading" the sexual identity of a student or a faculty member
• Under-representation: the absence of GLBTQ persons, issues, and culture in curricula and campus programming
• Exclusion or denial: a request for a room change because a roommate is GLBTQ; anger, silence, or rejection when a GLBTQ person comes out
• Teasing or verbal harassment: name-calling ("dyke", "fag," etc.), gay-jokes, or gay-bashing
• Defacement: homophobic slurs ("dyke," "fag," etc.) on posters, fliers, or message boards in residence halls

Listen: hear who they are and what their life experiences have been

Voice support: provide verbal affirmation, reassurance, and validation

Educate yourself: seek information about GLBTQ issues, persons, and culture from credible sources

Own your actions: accept that you are responsible for your negative energy, words, or deeds

Step up: be willing to defend a person against recrimination or discrimination

Step back: allow people to be who they are, make their own choices, and live their own lives

Embrace the joy: feel the pride that comes from knowing someone who has the capacity to experience love and the courage to live their truth

Test the waters: be sensitive to signs of anger or injury and respond with empathy and concern

Place blame: sexual orientation isn't the "fault" of any person or past experience

Rush your education: it will take time to become better informed about sexuality or gender identity

Blab: this truth isn't yours to tell. Don't repeat confidences without a person's expressed permission

Call Dr. Phil: don't assume that a person should seek professional help

Judge: don't impose your personal value system or your individual moral code on others; don't criticize or editorialize

*adapted from PFLAG's "Dos and Don'ts for Family and Friends" (www.pflag.org)

The GLBTQ Advisory Commission
Suzanne Ashworth, co-chair, 614-823-1162
Angela Harris, co-chair, 614-823-1589

Freezone
Otterbein's gay-straight alliance
Sarah Jacobson, co-president
Robert Burdett, co-president
Suzanne Ashworth, faculty advisor, 614-823-1162

Residence Life
Every hall director and resident assistant receives ally training.
Tracy Benner, Director, 614-823-1250

Jamie Clougher, Assistant Director, 614-823-1250

Student Affairs
Bob Gatti, Dean of Student Affairs, 614-823-1250

Greek Life
Sue Pelo, Director, 614-823-1250

Religious Life
Monty Bradley, Chaplain, 614-823-1409

Campus Security
Larry Banaszak, Director, 614-823-1693

Click here for a list of other Ohio college's GLBTQ resources.

• Classrooms should be places where we can be who we are. Academic free speech codes and social issues policies exist to promote a culture of respect, acceptance, and inclusion. And research consistently affirms the formative relationship between academic achievement and community: to realize their intellectual potential, students need a learning environment that's grounded in safety, belonging, trust, and strong interpersonal connections. In its strategic planning statements, Otterbein has committed itself to promoting an environment that "supports intellectual vitality, ethical understanding, and personal growth" and to attracting, retaining, and supporting a "diverse student body."
• Still, the question of being out in the classroom is a personal and sometimes contentious decision. Students may worry that they will face judgment or rejection from their peers, skew the teacher-student relationship, feel pressure to "speak for their people," provide sensitivity training to an entire class, or be reduced to a single facet of their identity, as if GLBTQ is all they are.
• Out yourself on your own terms. Although there are a number circumstances where a student's sexual identity or gender expression might be relevant to intellectual dialogue (especially when course content deals directly with GLBTQ issues), you shouldn't feel pressured or obligated to out yourself inside or outside a classroom.
• That said, sometimes we feel deeply compelled to share that part of our selves in a learning environment: because we want to speak from the locus of our experiences, because it's important to the intellectual trust between teacher and student, or because heterosexual privilege or sexual prejudice might be going unexamined in a text or a discussion. In those situations, consider the viability of the following suggestions. Use what works, reject what doesn't.

• First, consider the source of your suspicions. It's best to resist the inclination to make under-informed or stereotypical judgments about sexual orientation. The truth of an individual's sexual identity can't be "read" in surface signals like speech patterns, dress, mannerism, or gestures.
• Second, remember that coming out can be a tough and worry-ridden process. It shouldn't be forced, rushed, or coerced. If an individual is closeted, direct questions ("so are you gay or what?") can be deeply unsettling. If an individual isn't GLBTQ or is confused about their sexual identity, questions and even explicit statements of support can backfire.
• As PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) recognizes, one of the most productive forms of support we can offer to the closeted individual is simply to let them know that we're okay with all things "gay." Through discussions of mainstream media, GLBTQ friends and family members, same-sex marriage, etc. we can signal our acceptance. If and when an individual is ready to out him- or herself, s/he will tell us in their own time. (www.pflag.org)

• Recent research on the GLBTQ student experience at a major research university shows as much as 25 percent of students felt that their professors were "insensitive" to their needs, with 12 percent noting that their "instructors were very intolerant."
• Over 60 percent of students indicated that their courses marginalized or neglected GLBTQ texts, issues, and culture.
• And GLBTQ students were more likely than their straight-identified classmates to feel that their instructors "ignored their comments and questions."
• More than 50 percent of GLBTQ students said they were uncomfortable outing themselves to a professor "because they feared negative consequences."
• Because it can reinforce myths, stereotypes, prejudicial thinking, and even invisibility, sexual bias can undermine the education of both GLBTQ and heterosexual students

• GLBTQ thinkers, writers, texts, and issues: ensure that GLBTQ students find points of identification and inspiration in the curriculum.
• Balanced content and conversations: incorporate GLBTQ content in measured ways - so that questions about sexual identity or gender expression are balanced by other points of inquiry. Reducing an issue, individual, or text to a single category of identity can reinforce heterosexist ideology (as if only straight subjects get to be about other facets of the human condition).
• Speech codes and guided discussion: teach students how to have the conversation, how to raise vexed questions without offense, how to constructively challenge a classmate's or an instructor's point of view without insult. Give students an opportunity to discuss the value of academic free speech codes and the importance of mutual respect in a learning environment.
• Well-defined goals: Be sure that students understand why they're asked to discuss socially-volatile issues in a college classroom; be sure they understand the relationship between the conversation and the learning objectives for the course.

• Your own assumptions: don't assume that every student in your classroom is straight-identified. Don't assume that every student is emotionally and intellectually prepared for a free and open discussion of sexual identity. Or that every student is homophobic.
• Stereotypes in course materials: encourage your students to identify any biased assumptions or heterosexist ideologies that might infiltrate their texts
• Underinformed or prejudicial remarks: you might ask other students to respond, hoping that the community will provide the requisite instruction and guidance. But students may not feel comfortable "schooling" a classmate on this issue, and ultimately, it's the professor's responsibility to safeguard an inclusive classroom environment. When sexual prejudice enters the classroom, consider ways to turn it into a "teaching moment" (see the tactics below).

• Ask the class to develop its own free speech code and give students opportunities to revise the code as the quarter unfolds.
• Develop communal guidelines for navigating controversy.
• Clarify the goal(s) of the discussion before it begins and remind students that controversy can be intellectually productive.

• Express your own concerns about the intellectual or communal implications of the comment
• Offer insight or information that counteracts myths or stereotypical assumptions
• Acknowledge that we're all products of our culture, and open the class to a more general discussion of gender and sexual norms: where does that kind of supposition come from? The text or our culture? Who or what does it empower? Who or what does it work against?
• Use the Socratic method to encourage students to voice oppositional points of view: how would a particular author, thinker, or social group respond to that argument? how does a central course concept or theory impact that idea?
• Ask students to anonymously respond to a series of questions before they leave class and bring their comments back for discussion the next session: what was the most important thing you learned from today's discussion? What, if anything, surprised you? what key point or question didn't get raised?

• Sanlo, Ronni ed. Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender College Students (1998)
• Sanchez-Casal, Susan ed. Twenty-first Century Feminist Classrooms: Pedagogies of Identity and Difference (2002)
• Sears, James T. ed. Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Issues in Education (2005)
• www.lgbtcampus.org provides a comprehensive and annotated list of resources on campus climate issues

• Freezone students are trained to serve as diversity speakers, to tell their stories and facilitate a conversation about sexual difference.
• Residence Life staff coordinate an ally training workshop that can be adapted to serve different pedagogical needs.
• A number of different local organizations offer pro bono speaker services.

• Both Freezone and the Advisory Commission have developed a number of different fliers that can be posted on doors and in offices as symbols of support, welcoming, and affirmation.
• Ally stickers are available to faculty who attend diversity-training workshops sponsored by the commission.
• Contact Dr. Suzanne Ashworth (sashworth@otterbein.edu) for more information.