This year, for the first time, the Lambda Alliance is working with the Office of Admissions to reach out to admitted lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
With help from Admissions LGBT liaison Jordan Pascucci, Lambda will be contacting admits who are either “strong allies” in their high school LGBT programs or have come out in their admissions essays, Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said.
According to Director of the LGBT Center Bob Schoenberg, they hope to encourage students to matriculate at Penn.
“We want to be able to connect to that student for whom Penn would be a really good fit,” Furda said about showing these students what Penn can offer.
The goal of this initiative is to make students aware of active programs at Penn, where the LGBT community has been ranked “one of [the] top two” among colleges, Schoenberg said.
Racial minority groups already do reach out to admitted minority students, but Furda explained that outreach has been more difficult with LGBT students.
While ethnicity and gender can be identified by a check-box, LGBT students are only recognized if they choose to self-identify.
Concerned about respecting the students’ privacy, Pascucci emphasized that if students expressed in their essays that they aren’t comfortable with public knowledge or that their parents don’t know the student’s sexuality, then those names would not be released.
Lambda Alliance Chairman and Engineering and Wharton sophomore Tyler Ernst said Penn’s program is a “fantastic, vibrant community, but few people know about it.”
“I made sure to identify myself,” College junior and Lambda Vice-Chairman for Political Affairs Jason Goodman said of his application.
A transfer, Goodman did not factor LGBT communities into his decisions when he first applied to college.
“I had to get out of there,” he said of Connecticut College, where he began his undergraduate career.
But the second time around, Goodman made a strong LGBT community “a top priority” in his selection process.
“Penn [is] the most wonderful place for an LGBT student,” Goodman said.
However, he had to research on LGBT communities himself since no outreach to admitted students was in place.
Goodman is now “ecstatic in knowing that we’re looking at outreach for admitted students,” since some might not be aware of Penn’s LGBT presence.
Goodman said the top three points admitted students should know are that the LGBT Center receives institutional support, has a variety of organizations and is the oldest center in the country.
College freshman Joshua Herren said if he had been contacted by the center when admitted, “I would have been very pleased,” since it would have shown Penn’s commitment to LGBT concerns.
Lambda Vice-Chairwoman for Communications and Nursing junior Julia Moon is currently drafting the letter that will be sent to relevant students.
Admissions will have to approve the letter before it is sent, Pascucci said.
Ernst said with this new initiative, Penn is “a forerunner” in formal LGBT outreach.
