For the first time ever, the new undergraduate application at Elmhurst College includes the following optional question: “Would you consider yourself to be a member of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community?” They added the question as a way to gauge student diversity and those who answer yes become eligible for the school’s “enrichment scholarship” awarded to students from underrepresented social groups. That’s great for LGBT kids who may lack parental financial support, but should we worry that other needy applicants might answer yes just to snag some tuition help? Lying on an admissions document does probably counts as grounds for expulsion, but it’s not like the school’s gonna test to see if their students are actually LGBT or not.
Image via Elmhurst College
Chang
Elmhurst, not Amherst…
Maddie
Boring i don’t care about like this news
JayKay
There’s a very easy way to make sure that doesn’t happen: Stop giving out scholarships on the basis of things like orientation, race, and gender altogether.
Baird
@JayKay
Don’t you think the a community that is quite often completely cut off from the financial support of their families before they even reach college might need a leg up to pay for school, gifted or not?
Noah
Haha, I’m from 20 minutes away from Elmhurst, and I can guarantee no one is going to act gay for this scholarship, when they can just as easily get a different scholarship for a Chicago university.
Alan
Well, anyone could claim to be bisexual and get away with it.
Edgar
Elmhurst, not Emherst.
Larry
@Baird: Define “quite often” while true that a higher percentage of LGBT youth find themselves cut off from financial support of parents the application doesn’t ask abt this. I agree with JayKay. Its nothing but publicity stunt. Look how progressive we are! I dont recall any applications I filled out for scholarships asking if I were str8 so they could weed out the gays. They did ask if I were a multitude of minorities none of which i was and surprisingly I didnt get a scholarship and paid my own way with a full time job. However I watched as minority students with less academic achievements than I (quite a few not all) from my upper middle class neighborhood where all the parents had money and cars not fret over paying for college with plenty of gov grants & scholarships. Why did they get it and not the daughter of a poor black share cropper who excelled at science but lacked opportunity or new shoes? Ah because its not about really helping the entire Under Represented community, its about helping the right ones in the community that get you more grant money
Tim
Do the african american scholarships ask if you “consider yourself a part of the african american community”, or does it just ask if you’re african american? If you really need to know the sexual orientation of applicants, then just ask it directly.
I always thought of people who accept or support LGBT causes (an ‘ally’ or whatever) as being a part of the community. I’m heterosexual and I get along with LGBT folks and support their causes… I would answer that I’d consider myself part of the community even though I am only sexually attracted to females, and I wouldn’t feel that I was being dishonest. Likewise a sign language interpreter would be a part of the deaf community event though they can hear. Even if you are in favor of distributing scholarships based on sexual orientation (I wouldn’t support a hetero-only scholarship), this question still is problematic because the question asks something other than what was intended.
Also, if this question is used for determining scholarship eligibility, then it probably should be asked on a scholarship application instead of the undergrad enrollment application. I think it might even be illegal to ask things like sexual orientation on an enrollment application, or at least a violation of the Equal Opportunity rules that colleges always follow in order to get the tax breaks… perhaps that’s why they are being indirect? If it IS wrong to ask, then they should just refrain from asking, instead of exploiting a technicality.
Stark
@Larry: Up to 40% of all homeless youths identify as lesbian, bisexual, gay, or transgendered. Considering that even the most liberal estimates for overall queer population is about 10%, I’m sure you can see that that is a disproportionate rate. I understand that you are bitter over your college experience, that is valid. But the fact that you didn’t get help doesn’t mean that someone else shouldn’t get it. I know it’s hard not to let our trials in life embitter us, but with these statistics and with queer youth suicides at an all time high, I think it is fair to say that they need all the help they can get.
juhuaas
===== { w w w }{better—–wholesaler }{ us } =======
welcome to this website—-free ship ping accept pay pal—-
we provide all kinds of high quality shoes and the other things
if you are interested in it don’t hesitate to search our website
hoping you can have a good shop ping experience
———- {w w w }{{b2bjordans }{ com } —————–
Dedicated service,the new style,believing you love it
fast shipping^ ^ high quality ^ ^ don’t miss this chance ^^
^^^^we sincerely hope your coming^^^as soon as possible
AFruit4Thought
@Tim: Agreed!
I think Queerty is stealing viewers away from hate groups when people Google search, “fake homosexuality, Elmhurst, scholarship.”
alan Balehead
Sounds like a sitcom on fox….and yes they will….