The Graduate School Asks Applicants a Question on Sexuality

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Graduate School (TGS) at Northwestern University has added a new, optional question to its application for admission this year asking applicants if they consider themselves to be members of the LGBTQ community.

TGS is believed to be one of only a handful of schools around the country that now ask a question about sexual orientation on its application.

Applicants can answer or ignore the question as they choose, but the aim of asking it is to better know the makeup of the TGS community and, thus, to better understand and serve the needs of all its people.

“It's important for us but also for others to move in this direction, as well,” said TGS Dean Dwight McBride. “If we don't ask the question, we are not building a data archive and, therefore, have no way of knowing what the needs of our populations and sub-populations in our communities are -- beyond guessing and anecdote.”

To learn more, go to:

http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/about/news-events/stories/2014/the-graduate-school-at-northwestern-university-adds-question-about-sexual-orientation-to-application-for-admission.html