The research was conducted by University undergraduates and co-sponsored by the GLBT-SA, the LGBTQ Office and the Department for Housing and Residential Education. Researchers sought out LGBTIQ-identified students through listservs and organizational meetings. Due to the personal nature of the issues and the potential hazard of false submissions, researcher Douglas Dukeman, now a UNC alumnus, said they “took many steps to insure that respondents were more likely to be LGBTIQ students.” These steps included “advertising on channels that have high numbers of LGBTIQ students” and “asking students to self-identify with the survey,” he said.

Results indicate a mixed climate at UNC. While more than half of students stated they had been verbally harassed on campus, only six percent said they had experienced physical harassment. Every student who responded admitted to being “given the cold shoulder” by other students based on sexuality and/or gender identity.

Students gave tepid responses to questions concerning University policy. Only slightly more than half of students agreed that they would feel comfortable reporting incidents of harassment to University administrators, and almost three-fourths disagreed that the University adequately informs students of harassment policies, with 63 percent of students unaware that cases of harassment could be pursued through the University’s Honor Court system. Similarly, only 7.8 percent indicated that the University adequately responds to incidents of harassment based on sexuality.

Results on the academic climate were equally chilly. Fifty-three percent of students indicated that they felt the University’s curriculum did not adequately include “the needs and concerns of LGBTQ people.” The same number also indicated that the University faculty did not include enough LGBTIQ-identified professors, while just less than half felt there were sufficient LGBTIQ-friendly instructors. Overall, about one-fifth of respondents said the University is doing a “poor” job of responding to the needs of LGBTIQ people, while no student felt compelled to say the University was doing an “outstanding” job of doing so.

When it comes to sexual health, a number of results are striking. Sixteen percent of students specified they had contracted a sexually transmitted infection at some point in their life, and more than one in four indicated feeling at risk for doing so. Around one-fifth also indicated they had been pressured to engage in unprotected anal or vaginal intercourse in the past year, while a startling 30 percent indicated they had been pressured to engage in some sexual practice. More than a quarter said they use the Internet to locate sexual partners.

Asked to indicate their level of “outness” - or how open they are about their sexuality - students gave a range of responses. With other students, 28 percent indicated they were “out to all the students” they knew, while only ten percent were out to “very few.” In contrast, only 13 percent of students said they were out to their entire family, while 22 percent weren’t out to anyone in their family.

Look for a full report on the entire survey results later this year.