HOUSING STAFF

1. HOUSING STAFF – The foundation for any good housing program is its staff. From front line student staff to the people in the central office who make the decisions, these people have direct impact on the overall climate for LGBTQ students living in campus housing. Because of this, it’s imperative that you are intentional in your recruiting, hiring, and training to ensure that staff at all levels are willing and able to deal with issues of sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.
When recruiting and hiring staff, it is important to make an effort to have a staff that consists of visible role models for all of your student populations, including LGBTQ students. To be able to do this effectively, you must have an open and accepting LGBTQ climate in your housing department so that these potential staff members want to work for you and can be comfortable being out on the job.
There should be significant training that addresses the needs of LGBTQ students and the available resources in and around your community. Staff need to be comfortable with the issues sounding LGBTQ students before such students move into their buildings and onto their floors. Ongoing training that focuses on issues such as coming out, heterosexism and homophobia, gender diversity, and current social and legal …show more content…
HOUSING POLICIES – Housing policies should include clear language that communicates to LGBTQ students that their needs can and will be addressed by your staff. LGBTQ students need to know that if they have issues surrounding their identity, it’s okay to talk to housing staff and that there are policies and procedures in place to address those needs. These policies should be clearly published in all of your publications so that a student never has to wonder if they exist. Examples of such policies that are often LGBTQ applicable include changing roommates, requesting single rooms, and how to get a housing requirement exemption if appropriate campus housing is not