Team fosters community acceptance for students

Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals have been featured prominently in the media lately for undergoing harsh discrimination.

GLBT IU students facing discrimination can seek help and advice from the GLBT Anti-Harassment Team through the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs.

The GLBT Anti-Harassment Team was created in 1990 and is the oldest of all the other incident teams aimed at assisting with problems related to racism, gender or religious bias. The transgender aspect of the GLBT team was added a few years later.

Pam Freeman, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Ethics and Anti-Harassment Programs  said the goal of the GLBT team is two-fold.

“We respond to students who feel they are targeted and are an advocate for options about to react,” Freeman said. “We also keep an informal, confidential record of all reports for institutional history and to aid in educational policies.”

The program is designed to make students feel comfortable and is very victim-driven. For instance, the team listens to students’ problems and asks them what they would like done in response to the issue at hand.

IU has not had a serious problem with physical threats in the past, Freeman said.
“More of the issues we face deal with comments that are written or shouted and done by someone unknown to the victim,” Freeman said. “However, a homophobic joke on a gay student’s door can be just as personally harmful as physical violence.”

The team also works to prevent discrimination from the start. This begins with the training of residence assistants along with programming for incoming students at Freshman Orientation.

“We want students to learn the type of climate here at IU so that they don’t have to put up with this type of behavior,” Freeman said.

In response to the recent student suicide at Rutgers University, the team’s aim is to be as proactive as necessary.

“The suicides are very alarming, and we question whether we are doing enough,” Freeman said. “I hope that students feel they have a lot of support. We try to be as diligent as possible.”