Tracing LGBTQ Community College Students’ Experiences

Abstract

This chapter details the perspectives of LGBTQ collegians and faculty/staff allies at 2‐year institutions.

Integrating Asexuality: A is for Asexual in LGBTQIA+

“…An advocate or center director provides institutional memory of the range of identities that group has included, which can be leveraged to help members who feel like they are the only one with a specific identity in the group feel welcome and part of a larger community rather than the odd one out. Additionally, this permanent staff member can build rapport with students unable to attend meetings and/or activities, which for some students, is the only resource available to them (Zamani‐Gallaher & Choudhuri, ). According to the AACC Fast Facts (), 63% of community college students are part‐time, and another 41% are non‐credit earning.…”

Conflating Gender and Identity: The Need for Gender‐Fluid Programming in Community Colleges

“…There is a dearth of literature that examines gender beyond the dichotomy of male or female and that teases out how students reconcile self and define identity across multiple group membership by race/ethnicity, class, sexuality, ability, religion, nationality, etc. (Zamani‐Gallaher & Choudhuri, ). Gender sits at the contested and contextual cross‐section of the microcultural multiplicity of selves (Hobson, ).…”

“…Gender sits at the contested and contextual cross‐section of the microcultural multiplicity of selves (Hobson, ). Of the literature that pays sufficient attention to gender in higher education, in particular gender discrimination, gender identity, gender expression and/or gender roles, the perspectives of students, faculty, and staff within 4‐year contexts are primary and focus on community college students or educators is slight (Harris & Harper, ; Zamani‐Gallaher & Choudhuri, ). This gap in research underscores the importance of this volume dedicated to gender in community college contexts.…”

“…The 2‐year college sector is known for promoting access and broadening participation, yet support for the concerns of women, people of color, LGBTQ individuals, and other minoritized groups relative to community college research is wanting (Amey, VanDerLinden, & Brown, ; Twombly, ; Zamani‐Gallaher & Choudhuri, , ). Adapting the institutional climate for diversity framework by Hurtado, Milem, Clayton‐Pederson, and Allen () for assessing the climate for community college faculty using National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) community college data, Hagedorn and Laden () found differences in the perceptions of campus climate with a slight gender effect of more women perceiving the climate as chilly.…”

Advancing a New Critical Framework for Transfer Student Research: Implications for Institutional Research

“…In the last decade, there has been a wave of research conducted by scholars who employ critical lenses to understand community college transfer students from qualitative and quantitative approaches (Crisp & Nuñez, ; Harris & Wood, ; Jackson, ; Jain, Herrera, Bernal, & Solórzano, ; Laanan, Starobin, & Eggleston, ; Zamani‐Gallaher & Choudhuri, ). However, only recently have scholars advanced new ways to conceptualize, operationalize, and measure the complex social, academic, pre‐ and posttransfer experiences of first‐generation, low‐income, and underserved transfer students of color critically.…”