Raymond E. Crossman remembers exactly where he was last June when he heard that the U.S. Supreme Court had issued a ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. He was standing at a podium addressing the LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education conference at Adler University, in Chicago, where he is president.
The news of a critical victory for lesbian and gay rights set off a celebration among the more than 100 attendees at the conference, the first annual meeting dedicated to openly LGBT leaders and administrators in academe. “I was dancing on the stage,” Mr. Crossman said.
When the conference reconvened for its second annual leadership institute this past weekend in New York City, participants still had much to celebrate, but the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month served as a horrifying reminder that, despite advances for LGBT Americans, many challenges and dangers remain.
Higher education is a relatively enlightened sphere regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, and the number of “out” gays and lesbians leading colleges has grown over the past decade. But leaders and aspiring leaders still face limits in their ability to land top positions, and they struggle with issues that their straight counterparts navigate with more ease, or never face in the first place.
Many of the speakers and sessions at the conference focused on helping gay presidents and administrators succeed and advance, and representatives of several executive-search firms attended. But the weekend was also meant to offer a place to seek advice, and gather support, from people who face the same hurdles.
Despite the increased acceptance of LGBT people in academe, “it’s still difficult in some situations,” said James Gandre, president of the Manhattan School of Music and one of the hosts of the conference. Some of the presidents and the aspiring leaders who came to the conference “want to get some folks who they can lean on, and to get fortitude from,” he said.
Barriers for Gay Candidates
LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education has its roots in a 2007 article in The Chronicle that counted three openly gay college presidents at the time. One month later The Chronicle counted 11, and asked who else had been left out. The articles, and the discussion they caused, helped foster an informal network of presidents who were open about their sexual orientation, and who in 2010 founded their own organization.
The group now counts 150 members, including 70 who are past or current presidents of colleges in the United States and Canada. Over the weekend, about 80 participants — including provosts, deans, and other admininstrators — met for two days at the Manhattan School of Music and Teachers College at Columbia University, and many attendees marched together in New York City’s Pride parade on Sunday.
Most presidents who attended the conference run smaller private institutions, though community colleges and public comprehensive universities were also represented. Their institutions are located in both urban centers and in small towns, though out presidents rarely serve in predominantly rural or conservative areas. Campuses in states that enact threats to LGBT rights like North Carolina’s “bathroom bill” would be unlikely to embrace gays and lesbians as presidents, said Ralph J. Hexter, acting chancellor of the University of California at Davis.
But LGBT candidates seeking presidential jobs elsewhere often face other, more subtle barriers. One sitting president said that neither her sexuality nor how she dressed had ever been a subject of discussion until she started applying for presidential positions. (She asked not to be identified in order to avoid potential discomfort from her current institution.) Some colleges look for a president’s spouse to serve in a “first lady” role, which could be awkward for many couples, but especially so for LGBT applicants.
Sometimes sexual orientation itself is a strike against a candidate. Mr. Gandre said that he had heard from members of the search committees at three institutions where he had been a finalist for the job of president that his sexual orientation had helped knock him out of contention.
“Emotionally, I felt hurt and sad and angry,” he said. “But intellectually, I understood.” Presidents represent their colleges, and even if individual trustees feel comfortable with a gay or lesbian candidate, personally, they may be concerned that donors may react unfavorably, or that the local community might not be ready for an out president, he said. “Twenty years ago, I wouldn’t have even been a finalist,” he added.
Encouraging Signs
It has gotten easier to be out in higher education, according to Karen M. Whitney, president of Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She said that boards of trustees have gotten better at looking at LGBT candidates “in terms of what have we accomplished, or what will we accomplish, and not being distracted by things that either don’t matter or actually will help us be successful,” she said.
There was a time in gay American history when the police were running into bars to arrest us. In Orlando, they ran into bars to help us.
But if candidates are going to be candid about their sexual orientation, Ms. Whitney added, colleges need to be equally honest about whether they would move a gay or lesbian candidate from the short list of finalists into the president’s office. “What I ask is, Don’t waste our time,” she said.
An LGBT president can offer more than his or her skill set. Each new out president, provost, or dean serves as an important symbol for other college employees, not to mention students. “The more kids see that, the more will come out and live their lives fully,” Mr. Gandre said.
There are encouraging signs for LGBT Americans even in the wake of the Orlando tragedy. Mr. Hexter, of UC-Davis, was one of several conference attendees who was “struck by the degree to which the public at large has embraced this as a hate crime” and shown its support, he said. “The event itself is a reminder of how far we have to go, but the reaction to it is a reminder of how far we’ve come.”
Ms. Whitney, like other presidents in attendance, found it deeply affecting that the shooting took place in a gay bar — for generations, a key refuge and forge for the LGBT community. But she still saw reason for hope. “There was a time in gay American history when the police were running into bars to arrest us,” she said. “In Orlando, they ran into bars to help us.”
Lee Gardner writes about the management of colleges and universities, higher-education marketing, and other topics. Follow him on Twitter @_lee_g, or email him at lee.gardner@chronicle.com.
