Coming together The summit meant that leaders of HBCUs could come together and get an idea of “where we are as an institution” when it comes to LGBT issues on their campuses, said Makola Abdullah, president of Virginia State University, when asked about the biggest takeaways from the day. Officials could also compare challenges they’ve encountered and possible solutions, which meant they could work through issues together. “Then, the third takeaway is that there is an important place for young, black, LGBTQ students, and the challenges that they go through, and how do we as HBCUs begin to position ourselves to be on the cutting edge of that work, I think is also important,” said Abdullah. Only about 30% of HBCUs in the USA have approved campus LGBTQ organizations
PICTURED: Walter M. Kimbrough with the student panel at HRC
Only about 30 percent of HBCUs in the United States have approved campus LGBTQ organizations, said Hall. Some other campuses have “underground” organizations that operate outside the formal structure of the institution. And previous incidents have highlighted the struggle for LGBT inclusion on HBCU campuses. In 2013, for example, a student at Morgan State University in Baltimore who believed he was rejected from a fraternity because of his sexual orientation filed a complaint. The school investigated and later announced the chapter had “violated certain university regulations, procedures and policies.”
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