LGBT studies minor campaigns for funding

Faculty and staff involved with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender studies minor launched a campaign this fall to seek out additional funding to allow for more stability within the program.

The LGBT studies program, similar to other non-degree-granting interdepartmental programs across campus without their own department, does not have full-time employees to teach only for the minor. It also does not have a budget to support its own professors.

“We have to rely on other departments, so we’re mounting a campaign to try to get money to staff some of our programs consistently,” said Catharine McGraw, student affairs officer for writing programs and former program coordinator for LGBT studies.

A large majority of the classes offered for the LGBT studies minor are cross-listed with other departments, McGraw said. She added that professors who are not grounded in the LGBT studies program tend have an obligation to their home department, which makes class offerings more unpredictable.

Austin Rose, a fifth-year sociology and geography student, used to be declared as an LGBT studies minor.

Rose, a staff writer for OutWrite, an ASUCLA Student Media news magazine, said the structure of the minor combined with the unpredictability of listings made it difficult to complete its requirements.

The minor requires five elective courses from three different categories. Rose said he noticed there are somewhere between two to four classes offered each year within each category.

McGraw said that courses not cross-listed for LGBT studies but that have at least 30 percent of course work focusing on an LGBT perspective, can still count for the minor if students petition to the dean.

Eventually, Rose opted to change his minor to gender studies because of the larger course offerings and the added flexibility, he said.

James Schultz, interim chair of the LGBT studies program and chair of the department of Germanic languages, said the university ““ faced by cuts in state funding ““ is encouraging many major and minor programs to find new ways to financially support themselves.

Within the last two years, the Chancellor’s office has supplemented the program’s budget with money to hire three additional teaching assistants, said Reem Hanna-Harwell, assistant dean of humanities.

Funding for the extra assistants came through the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Incentive Fund, which academic programs, departments and schools across campus can apply to. The LGBT studies minor received about $35,000, Hanna-Harwell said.

The additional funding for the program resulted from an increased pressure to create more seats in a LGBT general education class to accommodate this year’s large freshman class, she added.

While the additional money has helped increase class sizes, the current campaign aims to make core faculty and course offerings more consistent. The money generated by the campaign would go toward hiring a more permanent teaching staff that would have a two-year or longer commitment to the program, McGraw said.

As part of the campaign, the LGBT studies staff is collecting donations from LGBT organizations in the Los Angeles area, she added.

“We are explaining to (the potential donors) why (donating to the program is) an exciting opportunity to help us grow and get stronger,” Schultz said.

Many individuals involved in the program, however, said the interdepartmental structure is a key characteristic of LGBT studies and other programs like it ““ something they hope to retain.

Meghan Malloney, a fourth-year history student and LGBT studies minor, said she sees significant benefits that come with grounding the minor in other departments. She said she thinks the program’s format also allows the material to reach students who would not normally seek out classes with an LGBT perspective.

“Interdepartmental programs are a very effective way to make contact with multiple disciplines within one area of study,” said David Schaberg, dean of humanities.

Though there are currently no plans to create a department to house the minor, McGraw said she hopes the campaign will set the stage for eventually expanding the minor.

“We would like to serve more students than those who are minoring in these courses.”

Email Jacobson at [email protected].