National listing of LGBT-friendly schools already ranks ASU in the bottom 15 percent of universities, but agribusiness junior Jonathan Sherman said he's sure ASU's rating will drop in the next year.
The University eliminated its staff position for a full-time LGBTQA specialist, as well as advisers for several other campus cultural coalitions, with plans to replace them with a team of advisers serving all of the groups.
Sherman, the vice president of the LGBTQA Coalition, said the new model would put too much pressure on the advisers. They would be expected to split their time between two cultural groups, which would require them to be well versed and accepted by both, he said.
"Everyone will have to be cross-trained in the different cultures," he said. "You're not going to find someone who's that culturally versed."
Of greatest concern to the LGBTQA campus community is finding someone able to answer questions about issues heteronormative students don't have, Sherman said.
Students who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth and instead view themselves as transgender, transsexual or any of the other trans* identities can have problems that other students and professors don't realize.
For example, Sherman said, ASU has a limited set of gender-neutral bathrooms. If professors in a building that does not contain one of these bathrooms set a time limit on student bathroom breaks to avoid wasting class time, transgender students are unable to go.
"There's a lot of things people don't understand," he said.
LGBTQA students can face bullying from peers and even roommates because of their sexual orientation, Sherman said. Many schools began paying more attention to this after the highly-publicized death of Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers University freshman who committed suicide after his roommate live-streamed video of him kissing another man.
Since Clementi's death, Rutgers has added new housing options, staff training and other programs. The university now has a rating of five stars from the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, a site run by the nonprofit organization, Campus Pride.
NAU also has a five-star rating, while UA has four and a half stars. ASU, meanwhile, has two and a half stars.
"The campus climate is not good at ASU," Sherman said.
He said things have improved during the past couple of years since LGBTQA specialist Chris Schlarb came in. Schlarb organized events like the LGBT fall welcome and a special graduation ceremony, the Lavender Convocation.
Schlarb, who prefers the pronoun "they," also advised the LGBTQA Coalition, oversaw an online support group and helped with any issues or crises faced by students who didn't want to go to ASU's on-campus counseling center. They also acted as an adviser for students in the University's LGBT certificate program, which began in 2005.
Going forward, the School of Letters and Sciences will hire a graduate student to support the certificate program, ASU spokeswoman Julie Newberg said in an email.
"This model will provide an outstanding opportunity for a graduate student whose scholarship encompasses lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies," she said. Two members of the Student and Cultural Engagement team will assist in providing support for the LGBTQA Coalition.
Schlarb was unable to speak because they are officially on contract with ASU until June 30.
The specialist position came about as a compromise a few years ago between the University administration and LGBTQA students, who wanted an on-campus community center. This is one of the points on which the LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index rates universities.
Anthony Eftimeo, who graduated in the spring of 2012 and still volunteers with the LGBTQA Coalition, was among the students trying to get the center. ASU is the only school in the Pac-12 without one, he said.
While students did not get the campus center, they did receive a specialist dedicated to the LGBTQA community.
"Students were starting to feel much safer," Eftimeo said. "They were starting to think, 'Wow, ASU's looking out for us.'"
Students have been very vocal about their opposition to the loss of the LGBTQA specialist position, Eftimeo said.
Interdisciplinary studies junior Xander Mach said members of his fraternity have expressed contention that the position was cut.
Mach is the outgoing president of ASU's chapter of Delta Lambda Phi, a fraternity that welcomes all progressive men regardless of sexual orientation, and the vice president of the Multicultural Greek Council.
"I definitely think it's essential for an LGBTQ student to have someone who's there in the community," he said. "Whoever comes in has to have a firm understanding of what the culture is like and what woes students face."
He said ASU has done a good job of trying to make LGBTQA students feel welcome.
"ASU as a conservative university has done a lot more than I expected for LGBT students," he said.
However, Mach said many members of Delta Lambda Phi and other LGBTQA students don't feel a lot of acceptance on the campus.
The University needs to add more programming for students who aren't heteronormative, he said.
Sherman said he doesn't see how eliminating the specialist position will help students.
"I don't know why (University administration) didn't leave something that was working well alone," he said. "They just decided they're going to a new model."
He said he's worried about possible effects of the changing program on events like the Lavender Convocation and the annual Queering Arizona Leadership Conference hosted at ASU, but more concerned about how students will react to new advisers.
Sherman said he's asked to be part of the hiring process but hasn't heard a response. He said the LGBTQA Coalition, as well as other groups such as the Womyn's Coalition, the Black & African Coalition and the Asian/Pacific Asian American Students' Coalition, requires an adviser who has personal experience in the community.
"It's not like you can take someone new and shove them into a community," he said. "The community has to accept them."
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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