Sexuality demographics and the college admissions process: Implications of asking applicants to reveal their sexual orientation

Many universities and colleges are considering if potential students should disclose their sexual orientation when filling out an application for admission. This recent trend, however, has generated a debate among administrators who work directly with LGBT students: What, they wonder, are the various positive and negative implications of quantifying sexual orientation? To address this question, this study utilized a descriptive design and looked at a national LGBT organization of educators, a non-generalizable population of approximately 700 members, in order to identify, categorize, exemplify, and describe the complex issues surrounding a sexual-orientation demographic. The methodology included a combination of quantitative and qualitative measures that were delivered through a seventeen-item, on-line questionnaire. Quantitative responses were analyzed with frequency distributions, percent distributions, disaggregation, and cross tabulations. Qualitative responses relied upon coded assessment derived from grounded theory. Descriptive statistics, for instance, showed that 90% of respondents were aware of the trend and that 41% worked at an institution that had considered adding to its application a demographic for sexual orientation. Descriptive statistics also indicated that respondents were divided among their levels of support for this trend at their own institutions and within academe in general. Coded assessment of the qualitative responses revealed numerous beneficial and detrimental concerns associated with a sexual-orientation demographic.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Casson, F. Lee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rutledge, Valerie
• Miller, Ted; Petzko, Vicki; Dubek, Laura
• College of Health, Education, and Professional Studies

• Education
• Higher
• Universities and colleges -- Admission

Licence

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/104

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1103