SIG Resources Highlighted by SECUSSA Forum on Underrepresentation

NAFSA's Section on U.S. Students Abroad just launched, through its Web site, materials to support the work of the Forum on Underrepresentation in Education Abroad. The Forum has been in existence for a number of years to bring professionals tog ether who are concerned not only about making education abroad available to all qualified students but also about how to meet their special needs. The issues surrounding GLBT students have naturally fallen within the Forum's focus on diversity. Carol Leb old (U Mass Amherst), who chaired the session entitled ÔEmerging Out of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Mentality in Education Abroad' in Denver, is the SECUSSA liaison to the Forum. She has revitalized this group and, in addition to chairing a meeting in Sa n Diego for all individuals interested in issues of under-representation, she is chairing the poster session (described on page 2). Carol also coordinates the Forum's new Web site -- launched on March 30 -- with Amy Kidd Raphael, University of Pennsylvani a. They included a link to the Lesbigay SIG's Web site and Julie Trimpe, a SIG member, contributed one of the articles in the newly revived Forum newsletter.

Julie's article "Gaining Visibility: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) Student Issues", recounts how she presented her graduate thesis results at NAFSA Region VIII's conference last fall. She opens her article with the question, "Are l esbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students underrepresented in study abroad? It is difficult to say. We do know from anecdotes shared by the GLBT student community that they certainly are participating. What we do not know is how many. Yet, the "unde r-representation" issue with this student population is not about numbers, but about visibility, an issue within our larger society due to heterosexism and homophobia which continues to exist." To see the new site, including Julie's article, see: http://www.nafsa.org/secussaforum.