The LGBTQ+ Student Leadership Retreat is designed to provide an opportunity for students to develop essential skills through interpersonal discussion, leadership development and community engagement. The retreat helps connect students to campus resources and networks that support academic and personal success.
The intergroup dialogue series provides a space for high-impact learning around issues of equity and justice for faculty, staff and students. Participants have an active and engaged learning environment where they can practice listening, asking questions and exploring difficult issues related to social justice. These conversations are intended to build relationships and challenge preconceived notions while broadening the perspectives of all participants. Using the exchange of ideas, honoring silence and engaging in critical thought, we seek to foster personal development and deepen cultural understanding.
We develop, execute and benchmark a university-wide diversity, equity and inclusion curriculum that’s delivered online and in person. These workshops and trainings are meant to foster multicultural awareness and the active practice of inclusivity among faculty, staff and students. The sessions are focused on diversity, inclusive leadership, social identity development, cultural competence, intersectionality, allyship and related topics for the university community.
Our office offers programming in collaboration with various departments and student organizations throughout the year, including celebratory and educational programs in honor of the heritage and identity months. Our programs are designed to enhance critical thinking, build community and promote civic engagement.
Guided by the principles of inclusive excellence, we continue on a path to create a safe, supportive and welcoming campus for all community members, embracing all sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions. We seek to create a community where everyone expresses their full selves and is supported through an intersectional approach guided by an understanding of how identities combine, resulting often in various forms of discrimination and privilege.
We heard from students, staff and faculty committed to realizing this goal. We worked closely with the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) student leaders to ensure that this work is collaborative and informed by their experiences. As a result of previous initiatives and more recent discussions, we share the following plan of action with our QU community:
We will introduce gender-inclusive housing for all students. We will work with students on how this option will be offered and the process for housing selection to ensure it is available in advance of 2021-22 housing assignments. Offering gender-inclusive housing accommodates and respects the complexities of gender identity and recognizes that traditional, same-sex room assignments are not always comfortable and/or appropriate for all students.
Gender-neutral bathrooms will be established in all newly constructed QU facilities and will be added to existing buildings wherever possible.
We will conduct a baseline analysis of our campus LGBTQ+ climate and environment using the Campus Pride Index (CPI), a national LGBTQ+ campus benchmarking tool. The results will inform strategies to address areas of underperformance.
The inaugural LGBTQ+ Student Leadership Retreat will be offered in Spring 2021, hosted by the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement. The event will help students hone essential life skills through interpersonal discussion, leadership development and community engagement. The retreat will connect LGBTQ+ students to campus resources and networks that support academic and personal success.
Training on gender equity, LGBTQ+ education, allyship training and Safe Spaces will continue to be offered and expanded across the entire QU community by the Department of Cultural and Global Engagement, augmenting existing equity and inclusion training.
We have established the LGBTQ+ Fellows program. Fellows will focus on implementation of the above action plan to advance the success and safety of LGBTQ+ members, in addition to educating our broader campus community. Vincent Contrucci, director of community service, is serving as the inaugural staff fellow.
Institutions built on a bedrock of equity and inclusion position all groups for success. In this set of actions, we seek to advance priorities in support of our fellow LGBTQ+ members as an embodiment of our commitment to inclusive excellence, to enable each member of our community to thrive. In so doing, we will become a more thoughtful, stimulating and inspiring community, a University of The Future. The university leadership holds itself accountable for progress on this set of initiatives in support of our LGBTQ+ community.
Vincent Contrucci serves as the director of the Office of Community Service at Quinnipiac University. He has been actively involved in developing more welcoming K-12 educational environments through his work as a board member for GLSEN CT. At QU, Vince has been involved in several initiatives, including creating a Safe Space program to educate faculty and staff about the LGBTQ+ community and a walking tour of NYC to educate faculty, staff and students about the LGBTQ Civil Rights movement in NYC. Vince was also the founder and president of his undergraduate alma mater’s student gender and sexuality alliance.
Quinnipiac University is a place where people of all sexes and genders have a right to live, work and attend school in a community that is free of discrimination and harassment. Harassment or discrimination related to an individual’s sexual orientation is prohibited under both the university’s Title IX Policy and the Discrimination, Discriminatory Harassment and Bias-Motivated Acts and Behavior Policy.
People at Quinnipiac are welcome to use the restroom that corresponds to their gender identity. For individuals who prefer to use a single stall bathroom, the university has several bathrooms that are designed for use by one individual at a time. These bathrooms are available to students, faculty, staff and community members of all genders. View the full list of gender-inclusive bathrooms.
There are numerous resources available to students, faculty and staff who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. More information is available in this community resource guide.
The Department of Cultural and Global Engagement offers numerous trainings related to gender equity on campus. These trainings are available to students, faculty, staff and community partners. They address topics such as consent, healthy relationships, LGBTQ+ allyship, bystander intervention and non-discrimination in education.
If you are interested in scheduling a training or program, please fill out the Gender Equity Training Request Form.
All Title IX personnel, including the Title IX Coordinator, receive robust training on the Title IX grievance process and related matters. This training ensures that individuals who serve in any process-related role have the skills and knowledge to serve in a way that is unbiased and free of conflict.
View the Training Material
Below you will find forms, resources and policies that have been established to ensure a safe environment for all members of the Quinnipiac community.