Inside Higher Ed's Diversity Insider is a monthly news summary of key stories touching on diversity topics. To receive daily news updates from
Inside Higher Ed, including our diversity coverage,
sign up here.
Gay Linebackers -- While some experts say that the climate for gay athletes has improved significantly in the last 15 years, it’s clear that at the very least, traces of hardships still exist. (see story)
Equal Time for 'Traditional Values' -- The Texas House of Representatives has passed a budget bill that would require any public college with a student center on "alternative" sexuality to provide equal funding to create new centers to promote "traditional values." (see story)
At Home on Campus, Not in Country -- Survey results from eight American colleges showed that many international students -- despite becoming a larger presence on campuses every year -- still struggle with discrimination and are unsatisfied by the degree to which student services helped them make the transition to the cultural and educational systems of the United States. (see story)
Missing From the Stacks -- Librarians who serve large Hispanic populations need to learn how to empathize with first-generation college students who might never have used a library before and whose relationship with academic research is less intuitive than many librarians are used to. (see story)
Missed Opportunity -- After the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ended an investigation into admissions favoritism, columnist Richard Whitmire asks why men should get a college admissions break -- and finds surprising answers. (see essay)
Retrieving the Dream -- An independent evaluation revealed that overall trends in student outcomes at the first 26 institutions to join Achieving the Dream, a nationwide initiative designed to boost the academic success of community college students, remained relatively unchanged after five years, despite the use of a variety of strategies to improve them. (see story)
The Enduring Gender Gap in Pay -- The gender gap in faculty pay cannot be explained completely by the long careers of male faculty members, the relative productivity of faculty members, or where male and female faculty members tend to work -- even if those and other factors are part of the picture, according to research released at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association. (see story)
Call to Action on Sexual Harassment -- The Education Department's Office of Civil Rights sends a "Dear Colleague" letter to colleges, universities and schools across the country to assertively remind them of -- and help them carry out -- the Title IX requirements on the prevention of sexual harassment they must adhere to as federally funded institutions. (see story)
Mental Health: Let's Talk -- The taboo against honest discussion of the problems many of us have hurts everyone in higher education, writes Terri E. Givens. (see column)
AUDIO: The suicide of Tyler Clementi, a gay student at Rutgers University, was among the many incidents in the last academic year that prompted renewed attention to the question of whether colleges are welcoming enough to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. On Wednesday, May 25th at 2 p.m. Eastern, Inside Higher Ed presents Assuring a Safe Environment for Gay Students, an audio conference featuring Warren Blumenfeld, an education professor at Iowa State University who is a national expert on these issues. He will discuss key policies that encourage a welcoming campus; addressing harassment, bullying and cyberbullying; programs and services that help LGBT students; the role of the local, off-campus community, and much more. The program is ideal for student affairs administrators, EEO/diversity officers, community relations officers, admissions officers, security and safety officers, and residence life officers. Click here to register or for more information about this low-cost audio conference.
