I am a queer trans person, and I get a lot of questions about how accepting Whitman College is of LGBTQIA+ students. So I’m sharing some college resources and programs that helped me and other queer students feel like we belong.
I benefited a lot from Whitman’s Preferred Name Policy. I was able to get my correct name and pronouns on my record from the very start of my Whitman career. That is invaluable to my feeling of belonging. My name printed on the door to my room on Move-in Day, my Student ID card and on attendance lists are now moments of joy and relief instead of discomfort. I am very grateful for that!
Another possible anxiety for queer students is housing. While Prentiss Hall is only available for female-identifying students, the other residence halls are open to students of all genders. When you fill out your housing questionnaire, there will be questions about if you’d prefer to room with someone of the same gender or if you don’t have a preference, and then there’s room at the bottom of the form to list any specific concerns you have. Living with a roommate might be a daunting idea on its own, so having an understanding housing preferences form is very helpful for students like me.
The college also has gender neutral bathrooms in almost every campus building. This is a great step towards making campus accessible for queer and trans students. It is much easier to feel like you belong at Whitman when there are bathrooms that correctly represent your gender identity. It also helps in a rush, because you don’t have to worry about going into the wrong one!
Another resource that helped my sense of belonging at Whitman was the LGBTQIA+ Student Services office. The office puts on events, trainings, and mixers, which are a great way to meet other queer students. I especially love when they set up a table in the Reid Campus Center for awareness weeks, because there are tons of free stickers, pins and flags. I’ve met some really awesome people who share a similar identity at these events!
As a white queer person, I recognize that I have a lot of privilege and that others’ experiences might be very different from mine. However, I hope that this blog post helps give an overview of some of the programs at Whitman that help support LGBTQIA+ students, so that incoming students are better prepared for the trans…ition (haha, get it?) to Whitman!
Pan Deines (they/them) is a first year student from Vashon Island, Washington, who intends to major in English and Minor in Creative Writing. Pan recently played a rat in a Whitman Musical Theatre production, and enjoyed it immensely.
