Wellesley & Simmons Colleges Continue to Shatter the Glass Gender Binary by Admitting Trans Women!

Contact: Jen Self, Publications and Communications Chair, [email protected]

March 17, 2015

New York, NY: The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals celebrates Simmons College and Wellesley College’s decisions to be just the third and fourth of the 119 “single-sex” campuses in the U.S. to admit trans women. Just six months after Mills College and Mount Holyoke College opened their admissions policies to trans women and allowed for the continued enrollment of trans men, Wellesley & Simmons follow suit to “align themselves on the right side of history” according to Simmons College junior, Danny Boucher. Similar to Mills College, Wellesley’s new policy opens admissions to trans women. However, the policy does not open the door to the admission of trans men who have legally changed their gender markers to “M.” By contrast, Simmons College adopted a policy that more closely resembles Mount Holyoke’s, opening admissions to all people assigned female at birth regardless of current gender identity and all trans women.

Consortium to University of Minnesota-Duluth and Erskine College ~ What a Shame! Violating Title IX?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Jen Self, Publications and Communications Chair, [email protected]

March 8, 2015

New York, NY: The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals denounces two recent decisions affecting LGBTQ people in higher education. We are disappointed to learn of Erskine College Athletic Department’s recently adopted “homosexual morality” clause and the University of Minnesota - Duluth’s (UMD) Athletic Director Josh Berlo’s recent dismissal of Women’s Hockey Coach Shannon Miller. Both Erskine’s “Statement on Human Sexuality” and Miller’s firing shine a bright light on the entrenched systemic sexism and heterosexism within athletics.

Creating Change 2015: Awarding our Leaders!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Jen Self, Publications and Communications Chair, [email protected]

February 17, 2015

The Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals was honored to recognize three great leaders among us at the National LGBTQ Creating Change Conference in early February. This year three awards, the Promising New Professional, the Award for Intersectionality, and the Award for Research and Assessment were presented to three outstanding members of our field, Natasha Cox, Leslie Morrow, and Genny Beemyn, respectively. 

Natasha Cox, Promising New Professional, is currently the Program Coordinator at the LGBTQA Resource Center at Penn State. She is completing her doctoral work with research gaining a better understanding of how Black trans men understand themselves.

Creating Change 2015 Wrap Up

Thanks to everyone who joined us in Denver for Creating Change 2015! We enjoyed our biggest Day-Long institute ever, the connections we made in the suite, and the conversations we had with many of you. You can revisit everything we did by checking out our Facebook page and the hashtag #lgbtcampusCC15

Business Meeting

We kicked off the conference with our annual business meeting, with more than 100 people present. We celebrated Leslie Morrow with the Consortium’s Award for Intersectionality and Natasha Cox with our Promising New Professional Award. Board members shared their accomplishments for the year. Slides from the meeting are available on our website. Also visit the website to see our annual report.

LGBT Campus Resource Professionals Institute

Thanks to Shaun Travers, our Education Chair, and the education committee who helped create our biggest institute yet! 230 people attended the session. Professionals had the opportunity to connect with others in similar stages in their careers. Over lunch, our regional reps helped create local bonds. QTalks engaged and challenged the audience.

Opening Plenary

This year’s opening plenary was especially moving as a large group of trans activists of color and allies took over the stage, demanding visibility and an end to anti-trans violence. See the demonstration here. This direct action reminded us of the important work we have left to do. It also underscored the importance of the work of Genny Beemyn in documenting transgender lives. At the plenary, we presented Genny Beemyn with the Consortium’s Award for Research and Assessment. Watch the award presentation here.

Conference Sessions

We hosted two fantastic academy sessions that challenged us to think inclusively in our work as professionals. Intersect/Divide asked us to center anti-racism and inclusive practices in LGBTQ work on college campuses. Teaching Trans* allowed us the opportunity to reflect on the tools and modalities we use in educating about gender identity. Also, consortium members hosted 11 workshops in the Campus Administrators Track, in addition to others in the Student Track. If you have materials from these sessions that you are willing to share, please upload them to the Creating Change forum.

Suite Life

We enjoyed hosting a hotel suite for Consortium events. Our suite provided a cozy space for support, mentorship, and connection. The LGBT2, People of Color, and Trans/Genderqueer constituency groups all hosted meals in the Consortium's suite. Participation in these meals ranged from 15 to 30 people. In addition, the Consortium sponsored breakfast for graduate students who are interested in working in higher education. We also held an Anti-Racism Discussion and a number of board events in the space.

Appreciations

We want to offer our deep gratitude to the members of our board with terms that will end in June 2015. Our thanks to LB Hannahs, Craig Leets, Jennifer Miracle-Best, Celiany Rivera-Velázquez, and Danielle Steele. Also, our thanks to the regional representatives who are concluding their terms: Maure Smith-Benanti, Molly Holmes, Sidney Gardner, Petey Peterson, Joel Bolling, and Brian Edwards.We encourage you as members to consider joining the board too!

Looking Ahead

We truly enjoyed connecting with you at our evening socials and between sessions. We always love being with our Consortium family in person. If you have feedback about the conference, please email us and let us know. We are already looking forward to January 20 - 24 for Creating Change 2016 in Chicago!

Our next gathering as the Consortium will take place at the University at Albany - SUNY which is hosting our annual Summer Institute and Board Retreat. The Summer Institute will be on Friday, June 26; save the date and we will share more information soon!