The Executive Council of the Diversity Network sought direct input on issues of concern to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population of the University System of Maryland (USM) first by inviting Dr. Luke Jensen, Director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Equity at College Park, to participate with the Network, then by forming the LGBT Issues Task Force with representatives from each of the eleven degree-granting institutions of the USM. This Task Force came together in the spring 2000 and quickly identified the following issues that need to be addressed.
Many of these recommendations overlap with those proposed elsewhere in this report; but since work with LGBT people is relatively new on some campuses and completely unknown on others, we believe any overlap will be useful in stressing the importance of including LGBT people within the diversity lexicon of the USM. Also, the Task Force's recommendations place greater emphasis on students than the Executive Report as a whole. Again, this is due to the relative newness of this work within the USM and stresses the urgency of these concerns.
The Board of Regents established a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and ordered "the designation and publication of the officials responsible" for maintaining this policy (136.0 VI-1.05). The Task Force recommends that
- each institution within the USM be held accountable for compliance with the policy on nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation; individual institutions should not be allowed to bury the required information on an obscure web page;
- this policy be published broadly so that all members of each campus community can know about it and know whom to contact; at minimum, the policy should be included in faculty and student handbooks, and in other annual publications distributed to faculty, staff, and students that outline campus and System policies;
- the statement that the institution does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation should be stated explicitly whenever a campus, program, department or other system entity publishes a statement of nondiscrimination; sexual orientation needs to be included wherever a list of protected classes is given;
- the System should monitor the compliance of individual institutions as part of internal audits, and report the results of that monitoring in annual publications;
- clarity should be achieved on responsibilities for maintaining information and statistics on hate or bias incidents;
- the policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation needs to be addressed whenever there is a search for senior administrators including campus presidents, and it should be clear to all new faculty and staff as part of their orientation.
The infrastructures of each of the System’s campuses must be responsive to the needs of LGBT people. Such responsiveness should include
- information and referrals specific to the needs of LGBT people;
- programming, where appropriate, including training that addresses their concerns;
- holding campus officials accountable for LGBT conditions on campus;
- evaluating the performance of campus officials on diversity conditions including those for LGBT people;
- rewarding students, staff and faculty, with awards, merit pay, promotions, and other forms of recognition for the work they do on LGBT concerns;
- developing better periodic and uniform data on campus climate for all minorities within the System to help assess and analyze conditions.
Resources should be dedicated on each campus and in the System for LGBT concerns including space, budget, and personnel. These resources should include
- Safe Zone Programs on each campus;
- an individual with enough time and interest to properly oversee LGBT concerns and monitor campus responsiveness to LGBT students, staff and faculty;
- personnel assigned to work with existing student groups and/or foster new ones that address the needs of LGBT students;
- training on each campus for faculty and staff on LGBT concerns; these include in-service programs for executives, campus compliance officers and other staff and faculty, and training for new hires;
- Speakers Bureaus to visit classrooms and residence halls as a part of Safe Zone Programs.
- Existing courses that include LGBT issues should reflect the latest scholarship and not continue with out dated material. Courses need to be revised to include LGBT material if it is applicable to the topic but absent in the course.
- Curriculum committees should be receptive and encourage the development of new courses that focus on or include LGBT material.
- All new courses in which LGBT material is appropriate should be evaluated, in part, on that inclusion.
- As a regular part of acquisitions, libraries need to dedicate resources to materials that address LGBT issues. Adequate space should be made available for in-kind donations such as books and magazines on LGBT topics.
Half of the institutions named in “External Best Practices” currently offer domestic partner benefits. Four of the five institutional peers for College Park currently offer domestic partner benefits. The USM needs to
- allow each campus to offer domestic partners the benefits they control such as library privileges and access to campus sport and recreational facilities;
- include domestic partners in benefits controlled by the USM such as tuition remission and family leave;
- become an advocate with the State Government for the inclusion of domestic partners in the benefits it controls such as health insurance.
There is considerable expertise on LGBT issues within the USM. The System and its institutions should support individuals who choose to work on these issues. This includes recognition, release time, travel, conferences, etc. that would foster meaningful exchanges on LGBT issues between the various campuses.