University of Iowa includes optional LGBT question on application: Your take
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The University of Iowa now includes optional questions about students’ sexual orientation and gender identity in applications for admissions, officials said.
The UI Office of Admissions started asking the optional questions this fall, officials said in a news release Wednesday. UI officials said the university is the first public institution in the country, and the second institution of higher education, to specifically include optional questions about students’ sexual orientation and gender identity on admission applications.
Executive Director of Admissions Michael Barron said the new question on undergraduate applications reflects “our foundational commitment to inclusion of all students, no matter what their origin or orientation.”
Inviting students to provide the information will help with student success and retention, UI Chief Diversity Officer Georgina Dodge said in the news release. It provides those students an opportunity to identify themselves in order to be connected to resources and build networks, she said.
What do you think of the move?
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It will only be a situation for special consideration as usual. Just think that Iowa City is the rainbow city….means also that these people will have more rights than the norm.
Mary Winch,
I don’t understand your objection here. The University has been using this kind of information to connect students with resources assumed useful for them for decades. In fact, colleges have been doing this for students since forever. Schools have always made an effort to let students know about clubs, activities, resources that would ensure their success in school.
So what is your problem? What do you mean LGBT students are now going to have “more rights than the norm”? What do you mean by rights? What do you mean by norm?
I think it is very appropriate. I teach a cultural diversity class at the University of Phoenix and the GLBT community is a part of our diversity. When President Obama spoke of a “Color blind” society, he was not only thinking about race, but of all diversity.