ResEdChat Ep 108: Safe Spaces, Strong Communities: Supporting LGBTIA Students in Housing

Crystal Lay:
Welcome back to Roompact’s ResEdChat Podcast, a platform to showcase people doing great work and talk about hot topics in residence life and college student housing.
I am excited about our topic today because as I think about the different identity groups that we have living on campus, I always want to make sure that we are in tune with what that community may need, that we’re providing supportive spaces, spaces where folks can learn and grow and, ultimately, achieve their goals of why they came to the institution to graduate.
So today, we’re going to be talking about how do we support students who identify as LGBT who live on our college campuses. And so with that, I’m very excited for our guest to be here today. I’ve known him for a very long time, had the pleasure of working with him at Miami, Ohio. He’s just a wonderful professional doing some amazing work and spending time with us today to talk to us more about how we can support those students. So I will have our guest start off by introducing themselves.

Travis Tucker:
Hey, thank you so much my friend. My name is Travis Tucker. I use him as pronouns, and I currently serve as the assistant dean and director of the Carl A. Fields Center at Princeton University. Previously, I’ve done work in diversity and inclusion work, but specifically working with LGBTQIA populations, overseeing LGBTQ campus centers, cultural centers, and working specifically with residence life departments within LGBTQ context. So I’m very, very happy to be here.

Crystal Lay:
Thank you, Travis. So I mentioned when you mentioned your introduction, you had a couple more letters versus LGBT. In 2025, what’s the series of letters or what’s the appropriate way to-

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. I feel like that is a great first question And I think that depending on the context, you’re going to get a different answer. I think that right now, when you’re looking at most spaces, I think that we’re looking at things like LGBTQIA. That plus pieces is really, really important because I think that as we move forward, we want to acknowledge the fact that there are currently at least 20 that go beyond that A, while acknowledging the fact that it’s really a moving target depending on.
But depending on the institution, Harvard, UC, see that they have like BLTQ to move forward bisexual individuals, you’ll see more individuals or some offices or other just spaces put the T first. So it’s a complicated answer. I think that people make the decision to move the letters to really make a statement on who they want up front. But now, I would say, as a general, that LGBTQIA plus tends to be kind of a standard. But really, there’s no one general answer to it.

Crystal Lay:
Okay. Thank you for that.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
So let’s get right into the campus housing environment.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
What do you think are some of the most common challenges that our LGBTQIA students face in campus housing or living environments?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. So this is a great question to start with because I think that more and more of our students… The good news is that more and more of our students are feeling comfortable to be out on or coming to campus out more than ever. We’re seeing students that are going through the process of coming out as early within their middle school experiences, their high school experiences.
And so when they’re coming to our campuses, they’re coming in with their trans and queer identities, much more realized than they were even when I was an undergraduate student. And so I think that that’s a really, really beautiful thing. I think that what that does mean on the other end, and particularly when we’re talking about not just residential life, but I think within a higher education context is how do we move forward to meet those students’ needs?
And what are we doing to ensure that our students have the supports that they need? And so housing, being one of them. And so I think that in the conversations that I’ve had with students, particularly around housing, there rarely can be a range of things where the process of what does it look like to be within gender-neutral housing or having housing that is specifically connected to having a neutralized space versus having maybe living learning community space or affinity space.
And so depending on your institution, since some institutions don’t have the capacity or have a living learning community program that sometimes then faces the piece where you’re looking at a neutral space, wanting to have that sense of community and belonging. But that gender-neutral housing space sometimes isn’t made for that or created for that. It truly is just a space where gender identity or sexual orientation or those spaces are really accounted for that.
And so those are things that I would have to work through with students depending on the institution that I was working in, was really trying to understand what they wanted out of their housing experience, what were they looking for within their housing experience, and then working within the housing assignments office, whether it’s with housing coordinators, whether it’s with the hall directors within the building. Sometimes, it’s with their RA, depending on the situation, to really talk through how they were making sense of the space and giving them that connection. So I would say that that’s one common piece.
I would say within the larger, if there was maybe a secondary piece, it’s education. And I think that that is going around particularly for our trans and non-binary students, understanding that those populations continue to grow and change. And I think because of that growth and change and because it’s happening so quickly in a positive direction, more and more people are coming out. There sometimes can be a knowledge gap depending on the campus that you’re working in with students around what those communities look like.
And so then that sometimes can create misunderstandings that happen on residential floors and spaces. And so that education piece around how we’re working, how offices like mine would work with different offices and apartments like a residential life office to ensure that education around those communities was happening, whether it’s through a safe zone training program, whether it’s through a bulletin board program. That was always something that I was working with and contending with.
And I would also say if there was a third piece, I think security and just making sure that students feel a sense of belonging and safety within their rooms, was something that was always something that I was always talking with folks about.

Crystal Lay:
Well, thank you for sharing that. So this piece of is this space for me, are folks educated enough to make sure that I’m not the educator when I’m just trying to live here?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
And then also you talking about that security piece, will this be a place where I feel like I can belong and be a part of a community and feel connected and safe?
So I think that the next question I want to ask you is thinking about housing policies and procedures, how do those factor into supporting students of this particular community? And then where are some places where you think they can be improved?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. So I think that bleeding into my initial answer to your first question, Crystal. Sometimes, our assignments processes are not met for the time that they’re happening in. And I think that particularly when we’re talking about trans, non-binary, any student, when we’re talking specifically around gender identity, I think, not to say that this does not happen within the context of sexual orientation. I just think when we’re talking about gender identity, so gender identity around trans identities, non-binary identities, identities that are not connected to sexual orientation, I think that this becomes more and more of an issue where students are needing, because sometimes the application process doesn’t really address gender identity in the way that it needs to, sometimes because students are doing the process with their parents and then they’re not able to accurately put on the… There’s a lot of different pieces that fall into it.
It then leads to a situation where students are going into a space where they don’t feel a sense of security within the space, or they feel uncomfortable within the space, and then that then creates issues within the room, the floor, et cetera. So I think from an assignments piece, it’s like how can we work to make sure that we’re accounting for students of differing identities?
Now, some parts of that, particularly for our first year students, if they’re navigating the application process with their parents, there’s so much that we can do as professionals. But on the larger end, what can we do to ensure that our students have a sense of support there? So that was always one piece I always was thinking through.
I think another piece is the living learning community piece. And I recognize that for some institutions that might be listening to this, that’s not a program that they have. But I do think that if you are not able to have a living learning community space within a floor, or just campus climate wise, your institution can’t do that, what does it look like for you to have a relationship with multicultural centers, LGBTQ resource centers, whatever space, and to make sure that that relationship is strong and consistent, that know the staff members that are working within that space, that you’re bringing those people within to your office to work with them regularly and to get to know students. I just think that that is so, so important.
And I think, unfortunately, a lot of incidents happen where because those relationships are not built, it becomes very reactionary. And the only time that offices are only ever speaking to these individuals is when a bias report has been filed. And that we don’t ever want that to be the initial conversation. So I really think it involves a commitment to offices to really go out there and really have these conversations with these offices to ensure safety. If things like living, learning community spaces, affinity-based spaces aren’t an option, it’s like what can you do to ensure that your students feel that sense of connection to their LGBTQ identities within housing?

Crystal Lay:
I like that you talked about building a strong and consistent relationship because if I only know a resource as the office you go when there’s a bias incident, I don’t know about the other things that are being offered. What are the programmatic opportunities? Or this person’s really cool and this is an opportunity to find out who you are as a human, and let’s grab coffee. And so I think that relationship building piece is important, and it helps us sell that resource to the students as well if we have some familiarity.
And that as assignments piece was huge that you mentioned because I have seen that in my time. And so I want to talk a little bit more about assignments, if that’s okay.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
So with assignments, how do you think housing staff can balance privacy and community when supporting students who are trans and non-binary in housing assessments?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. So I’ve seen a couple of methods, and I think that the one thing as I think about this answer that this is a new way to explore. This is an exciting thing that we’re exploring, but it’s also very new, and that because I think that, again, historically, we have not correctly given trans and non-binary individuals the opportunities that they’re having.
So I think that there’s a lot more work to be done. I do think that I’ve seen instances or institutions where on the housing application you can have a checkbox of different inclusive housing, affinity-based housing. And then once that checkbox is clicked, then it opens up a separate application where if you are clicking on this particular housing situation, it then is providing you more information around LGBTQIA affinity housing. This is what it is. This is what it’s not. Gender inclusive housing spaces. This is what it is. This is what is not, and making sure that students have a full understanding of what it is.
And I appreciate that piece because it’s really important to make sure that students know that when they enter in those spaces, and we’re not even… Let’s just pull out the fact that we’re having a conversation around LGBTQ folks, but individuals that aren’t in the community can certainly be in gender inclusive housing spaces.
But I think it’s important for students when they do click on those boxes that they know what they’re signing up for, that they have a full understanding that this is a safety and a security space, particularly for some students. And that’s what the expectation is. And so if this is not going to be a situation where you feel comfortable being in that space, maybe, you should look into some other options and to consider what you need as a person. So I think that information, I think, is really important. I’ve seen some instances where I think this was at one institution I was at, it’s been a little bit. I’m like, “Did I do this?” I did do this.
So I actually played a part in that as I was an LGBTQ coordinator at the time. And we were running, and we were creating an LGBTQIA affinity floor. So we had a full floor, about 25 to 30 residents that lived on a floor. And this was the LGBTQI floor for that campus community. And I gave full approval to this, but I gave my name and information as the LGBTQ campus coordinator and worked with housing assignments to create space around the individuals and had just had any conversations because for some of our assignments coordinators, they felt uncomfortable about some of the questions that were being asked around just gender identity and safety.
And so I was always more than happy to do that. And so my name was part of the assignments, and I would work with the assignments’ coordinator to make sure that folks felt comfortable, gave the okay for them to be on the floor. And that floor became part of one of the strongest living learning communities that campus had.
So I think that it depends on the context of your building. I would just say for assignments folks not being afraid to ask questions. The best assignments coordinators that I’ve worked with sometimes than the ones acknowledge that I don’t know what this means or I don’t know what to do, and I need help.
And just getting that help and not expecting to know everything, we certainly don’t know everything. And so getting that, I think, has been super helpful. And honestly, some of the best partnerships that I had particularly and I worked with was with assignments because that piece was always so important to ensuring a student experience, particularly in the first year.
As students move on, it becomes a little bit easier, especially if your living learning community was an upperclassman one. But in that first year when a student is coming in, it was always so crucial was to have those conversations with them to ensure if a student is saying this in the application, this is what they mean. This is what they don’t mean. And so I worked really well with the folks there.

Crystal Lay:
And you just highlighted a really cool partnership and maybe the necessity to work with the experts, if you will, the humans from that office or that resource who can help make sure that you’re providing an application process, an assignment process that really honors the humans that will be living in your community. So I love that, Travis. So we’re talking about explicitly this grouping, this identity, but I imagine people are more than one thing.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
And so my question for you is how can housing folks ensure that we’re considering the diverse experiences of folks who are LGBTQIA and then really thinking about the intersections of the multiple identities they have?

Travis Tucker:
Yes. I love this question, and I think that it’s one of those pieces that within my work. So currently I work in, for all intents and purposes, a multicultural center. And we have a sibling office that does LGBTQIA work. And so I think that piece around really honoring the full person becomes a full part of what we do.
And so I think that another great partnership in considering this question, one, some of the student groups and the larger student group communities and how are you engaging with them and making sure that particularly for our queer and trans students, they have an understanding of what can be involved and how they can be activated within different spaces.
But I also think that particularly if you do have affinity spaces on your campus and your experience, I think there’s always a balance. And that was something that we always navigated on the floor, is that we certainly want to make sure that it’s a safe space, and that it is as queer, trans as people want it to be.
But we also always acknowledge that that is not everything that you are. And so there was very intentional conversations where we would talk within the first two to three weeks about how do you want to engage outside of the space, how do you want to get involved in organizations? Eventually once you get some leadership under your belt, like an NRHH, or become an RA or get involved in your RHA and that be just as important as a leadership experience as the time that you’re in as a LGBTQIA student.
But then I would also say that encouraging particularly students that just come out, I think that we experience students that when they are just coming into a space, they’re just really excited to be queer, are really excited to be trans. And we love that, but we also want to make sure that people are engaging with all parts of themselves.
So whether that is them being their race, their ethnicity, national origin, any piece of the puzzle that’s along with that, I think that as professionals, it’s like, “Yes. Keep going. Keep diving into who you are within your queer and trans space.” But what does it look like for you to get involved within housing spaces, within leadership spaces across campus, your academic programs? Because, ultimately, those are all the things that are going to make you stronger.
But I really appreciate the question because it really speaks to the whole thought that we’re not one thing. None of us are one thing. And so I think for our students, particularly our queer student leaders, I’ve experienced that where people just think they’re just gay and that’s not it. We are all more than just one thing. So it’s very, very important.

Crystal Lay:
So what I’m hearing, even if you do have those affinity spaces or living learning spaces that is devoted to this community, as housing professionals, we shouldn’t hyper focus in on this one identity and treat students as if that’s all they are.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah.

Crystal Lay:
Then, we’re not honoring them because, hey, they’re also a student. They may be a sibling. So in addition to the isms that exist, there’s all these really cool pieces, and it’s an opportunity for us to be let in that way. So let’s talk training because you talked about education earlier, right? And I think that’s really important. So what are some training and development opportunities that should be provided or needs to be provided for our housing staff to make sure that they’re being supportive and understanding of this identity community?

Travis Tucker:
Yes. So I’ve had the pleasure doing a number of trainings both for professional staff and student staff over the years around queer and trans identities. And I think there are things that are “basics” quote, unquote. And then I think that it really is then the piece where you are working with a professional to really be honest around the gaps that you’re seeing with your staff and working to address those.
So the basics, pronouns, and understanding how to use pronouns, how when you mispronounce somebody how to address that and really address that, particularly when you’re building out community guidelines at the beginning of the year, or if you do it semesterly, how is that looking when you’re talking about gender identity and inclusion within a space and doing that and those conversations.
I think that’s really important. And then from a professional staff side, how are you training individuals on your teams when a larger issue around either mispronouning or dead-naming individuals are happening within spaces? How are you redirecting students to the resources so they don’t feel as if they have to be the one person that is solving this big issue for their building?
So all of that piece is where we’re naming the issue, directing the issue, and then also just providing guidance around it. I think also larger pieces just around the community, so explaining the acronym, providing context to why the history of the acronym and why it is, why we use the plus, how we acknowledge that there are more identities that are outside of the spaces. I think for some campuses, and this is always campus-dependent, but inclusive restrooms is an important piece.
Do you know where your inclusive restroom map is? Do you know how to access it? Is it accessible on a cell phone? And for your student staff and for your professional staff, can you walk a student through wanting to make sure that they have that piece there?
So I think that there are some very basic level things, one-on-one type of things that you want to touch base on. So the history of the community, why it’s important to be in this training today, understanding the importance of what… Particularly for our trans and non-binary students, their experiences, understanding the difference between gender identity and sexual orientation, that there are two separate things. That’s very important as well.
And then it can get parsed through where if you are experiencing issues, specific issues, if you are noticing that your RAs over time are really struggling with this particular issue within the community, if your professional staff is really struggling with a specific issue within the community, I won’t go into full detail, but there was an experience of an interpersonal violence instance that happened on a campus that I was working in. And that experience really traumatized a lot of individuals.
LGBTQIA communities tend to be much smaller in comparison to their straight counterparts. And so when one person is in a survivor of interpersonal violence, that really triggers a whole lot of discord. This happened in a residence life space. And so I really worked particularly with the group to really talk through what a training could look like to, one, provide education post experience, but then also to just acknowledge what happened.
And so I think that that’s the piece where I always loved doing what’s a pronoun, and here’s this and that. I always appreciate, and I value those trainings, but I also really appreciate those secondary trainings because it really is a housing staff being honest with themselves and saying, “This is a problem.” Our students are saying that this is a problem and we really need to address it.
And I always really appreciated the humbleness that came from staff leaders and saying, “There’s this gap in our office, in our students, and we can’t have this gap. So let’s fix it and address it, and go from there.”

Crystal Lay:
Thank you. You made it sound really easy for a housing team to reach out to or connect with a campus partner and be vulnerable and answer those questions. Now, that might be different depending on the institution and the staff. But it sounds like being willing to name what you know and what you don’t know and that you need some help and support and going out to that campus partner is something that would be welcomed.
I’ve had instances where folks might say, “I’m not a member of XYZ community, or I don’t look like this group. And so I can’t help them, or I’m stuck, what do I do?” And so I think that that even can be a question if folks feel comfortable. And also Google is a thing, but it sounds like that could even be invited of a private conversation with maybe a team member and say, “Hey, how can I be helpful? How can I educate myself, so I am able to help folks even if I’m not a member of that community?” And also having this activity as well.

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. Crystal, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat down with staff and student staff that same thing where it is, and when it’s a professional staff member, it’s like I have a colleague of mine that is transitioning that just came out and maybe had a close relationship with this individual, and they just didn’t know how to interact or have conversation with them.
And I would just say that particularly for folks that are listening to this, I think that it takes a lot to acknowledge you don’t know something, particularly on higher education spaces, the knowledge we are supposed to be like knowledge knowers. It feels like at all times sometimes to really take the grace to just go to somebody that does have some knowledge around some of these things and sit down. And some of these people I really didn’t know.
They just knew that LGBTQIA was in my title. And maybe, it had seen me in one training, and that was it. So it’s not as if I had a very close relationship with some of these folks. Some folks, I did. And I can’t speak for all of my equity and inclusion professional colleagues, at least speaking for myself, I would much rather you have the conversation with me, than go out and cause harm within our community space. So if you are leaning towards one way or the other, please have the courage to have the conversation because you are saving a lot of potential pain for someone else within a space.

Crystal Lay:
That was really deep. have the courage to have the conversation. I really appreciate that. And you talked about how we can collaborate with campus partners to support students. And so I think I’m going to get into what are some of the inspiring stories or success stories that you’ve witnessed in creating inclusive housing spaces for LGBTIQ students? [inaudible 00:28:48] IA students, like, IQ. Like, “What? What are you talking about?”

Travis Tucker:
Look, they are smart. No. No. So, yeah. I have been so lucky to have worked with such talented students. Particularly, the first thing that came to mind when you asked that question was watching… Before I was at Princeton, my last stop was at Washington University in St. Louis. And I had a dual role where I was the associate director of a multicultural center office and then also was directing this LGBTQ piece. So it was two in one.
So one of the students that I was working with and my coordinator at the time was working with, she had this really vision of I want to build an LGBTQI LLC. I want to do it. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I’m going to do it. And we luckily are on that campus living learning communities. So Wash U has a residential college system. But living learning communities was, and I believe still is an option for upperclassmen students.
And so this student worked directly with residence life staff to put in an application and develop this community, this safe space for our students. And by the time that I left, it was the most popular one was there. Particularly for our queer and trans students, was always full. For some, living and learning communities, I know folks that might be listening to this for LLC folks, you’re like that. That doesn’t always happen because numbers can sometimes don’t always fill, but that one always filled.
And really, that purely came from students. That purely came from a student wanting a safe space to live and knowing that her friends wanted a safe space to live. And she built it. So I just thought that that was just so impressive. Outside of that, I would say that there’s been so many great programs and programmatic experiences that I’ve seen throughout living learn communities.
I’ve seen so many really thoughtful… I’ve had so many awesome Ras. Now, I’m thinking about it in the past that were allies to the community, but they were just like, “I really want to do something for my students to feel like a sense of safety and security.”
And so since most schools are out by June, LGBTQ History Month in October, really, for one of my RAs, former RAs in particular, I used to be a hall director by the way. I realized I didn’t mention that. But one of my RAs was like, “I want to do a Pride Month thing for our students.”
And so we took the time to build that out, took the time to build out the programming, brought in the coordinator for the LGBTQ resource center at the time that was on our campus, and really developed that space.
And so many of the students that were on that floor left with so much more knowledge around communities and understanding of communities simply because that RA, who was just an ally and had friends that were within the community said, “I actually really want to do this.” And I really appreciate that because it really speaks to it doesn’t have to be somebody in the community. It can be anybody. It’s just you have to take a stand and say, “I want to do this.”
It can be as easy as an event or events. It obviously can be as structural as building out a whole floor, but I think that for students, I think our goal as professionals is empowering them. How do we empower students to make sure that they have agency in their own experience so that they can feel as if they can build out whatever they need to build out?
And so as a supervisor and as an advisor, eventually, that was always my big goal, was how do we create the space so that students feel comfortable? Because students, they’re just so much smarter than we sometimes give them credit. And if they can sense that that space isn’t being developed from an exterior, they’re not going to dream. And then that’s sometimes where a lot of those great ideas don’t ever come to fruition, that can really change a housing space.

Crystal Lay:
And students, they know what they need. And sometimes, I think we just make decisions without the stakeholders or some of the key stakeholders at the table. And so I think this is a really neat example of a student naming something and then you’re like, “Let’s do this. How can I support you?” So I love that example.
So I want to ask you, what are some emerging trends that housing professionals should be aware of? I know there’s some legislature pieces that are happening. There’s just stuff, just news feed, turn on the radio, or whatever you get your news media. There’s stuff to be aware of. But in your work and trying to make sure that you’re continuously supporting students in this community, what should we know as housing professionals?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. Well, I would say you mentioned legislation, but one thing, I look at legislation every time I can, frankly, particularly if you’re working at a state institution, your state legislation and your federal. Federal, yes, but your state legislation is going to dictate a lot of what you can do, unfortunately, sometimes for the housing space.
And so I think being mindful of that is something that is deeply important, mainly thinking about our state and public institutions, but also acknowledging that it is truly all of us. I would say outside of that, trends to be mindful of, and I think that we’ve talked a little bit about it so far, but mainly for our trans and non-binary students, the numbers of students that are identifying in that way continue to grow.
When we’re looking statistically at who is coming out, I always say that it’s less about the LGB, and it’s more about the T and the NB. Eventually, who knows, lead to a realignment of letters that we are currently seeing.
But statistically, we are seeing more and more of students where gender identity is a huge part of how they are coming out. And so I think that is housing professionals that need and desire to making sure that our students have a safe and secure space, is going to be really important. So we talked about the housing application and the assignments process, but even when students get into the space, what does it look like? And how are you developing that sense of security and safety for our students as they’re entering? So that I would say is going for several years and even longer, just thinking about the numbers of the community that is going to continue to be a thing.
So I would encourage housing professionals if they have not started doing the research around just trans and non-binary security and sense of security and meaning. I know that there’s folks like Z Nicolazzo, and that Z is doing some really great work, Miami alum doing really, really great work on that, and has some really great resources there.
So I encourage them to look through that. I would also say that another piece, and maybe this is one that maybe doesn’t get as talked about as much, but I think that I am seeing this more and more, is really addressing how… And we’ve touched a little bit about this, but ensuring that our LGBTQIA students feel that sense of connection to larger campus.
I think that from a trend wise, when we’re looking at students, the statistics around sense of security and sense of belonging on a campus, statistically, a lot of our trans and non-binary students tend to be the ones that are falling a little bit lower.
You could say that we could extrapolate that to maybe students of color. But for this conversation, that statistic pieces tends to be a little bit lower for a lot of different institutions. I’m sure for some, that might be different. So what does that mean when a lot of those students, depending on the institution that you are at, if it’s a housing, it’s a housing institution or a residential based college, they’re at home.
So what does that mean for your space, if that is a consistent need, how are you addressing that in the partnerships, in relationships that you’re building with coordinators of LGBTQ resource centers, directors of LGBTQ resource centers, what are the big events that you can do, but also the small ones, those incremental changes, or how are you benchmarking that success within the data of are you seeing substantial growth in the progress that you’re doing when you’re putting on these new programs and initiatives?
And so maybe you can get more money for those things as they hopefully pop up. And I would just say if there’s a last big trend that I’m noticing particularly that we as professionals need to work on to get better on is the larger advocating for our students. As a former staff member of one of an LGBTQ resource center, more than once, I deeply have valued and appreciated being an advocate for our students.
But I think that a lot of times, folks that are the one for their campus, and for a lot of LGBTQ professionals, you usually are the one. They need backup and they need folks that really know our students within the residence halls, residence colleges, whatever your system is to really help them and to really understand what is going on with that student. So it’s a student to student piece.
So if you have that relationship with students, I think that really understanding what community looks like for them. If you have that relationship, strong enough relationship, understanding their identities, and maybe doing that work on your own to understand those identities.
But we don’t want things to happen. But inevitably, they do. What does it look like for you to be a partner to an LGBTQ resource center office so that the person that is in that office and is working with five other students experiencing the same thing across campus, maybe, you can be the primary to their secondary in that situation.
You can be the person that is helping to support that individual and doing that part too. And I think that that involves just education. It involves building relationships with the LGBTQ folks within the office. And it puts the onus back on you to have that time.
But, ultimately, I think it makes you a better professional because down the line, you will have other students that will identify in that way. And then they will see you as a support because that’s what happens. If you do a good job with one student, particularly within the community, three other students will come down, and you will be seen as a safe space, which for LGBT folks, that’s a big deal. So yeah, I would encourage all those things.

Crystal Lay:
What a reminder of the importance of our living roles, is building community and making connections with the students, because there’s just a different experience that you get when you’re with them, and you live with them. And, obviously, there’s balance and boundaries and different pieces you need to be mindful of, but I think that being in the community and the importance of that.
So I do want to ask you, we’re coming to the end of our time, if folks wanted to learn more about this topic, where do you think they should start? Are there resources that you would recommend? I know you mentioned Z Nicolazzo’s work, which is amazing. Other resources you would recommend?

Travis Tucker:
Yeah. I would look towards the consortium of higher education. So the consortium is a group of LGBTQIA professionals. So LGBTQIA center directors, assistant directors, coordinators, program coordinators, and these are all individuals that sometimes are on your campus. So you probably know them, but it’s a group of other individuals across the country. And they have a lot of great resources and tools to really think through what it looks like to understand the experience of an LGBTQIA person on a college campus.
The Campus Pride Index, I would encourage people to look at that if they have not yet. So that index is a five-star index. I always recognize with folks that there is always a feel about campus pride just based on the judging process and how it looks. But I think it’s a really, really good resource because, one, there is a specific place for housing. And that is part of the score is that they’re asking individual schools to meet a need around affinity-based housing, inclusive-based housing.
And so if you haven’t, you can look up where your school ranks. And then you can also see where if your institution does have gaps, what are those gaps? And then it can really hopefully start a conversation about how we’re filling those, how if we’re doing well in a certain thing, how can we continue that or how can we amplify it?
I think that that is always really important. And then also, I would always just lean into the professional organizations, other professional organizations. So ACPA has some really great resources.
NASPA, the Gender & Sexuality Knowledge Community, also has some really good white papers on just understanding gender and sexuality as a whole. But yeah, I would definitely just encourage individuals to just keep educating themselves. And I always say this, I have been doing LGBTQ-specific work for almost 10 years now. And I am still researching.
I’m still trying to understand you don’t ever stop. And so I think that that’s a responsibility that we have to our students that when a student comes in with an identity that you have not heard of, because that’s happened to me in LGBT role, to do the work on it, and research what that is so that you can continue to have a better relationship with that student.

Crystal Lay:
Travis, this was a really good conversation, and I’m thinking of a really good adjective because there’s so many questions that you pose that I want to write down for myself and do my own research on my own campus, and really think about how I can differently and better support students and then model that for the staff that are in my portfolio. And so thank you, Travis, for joining us today. This was amazing.

Travis Tucker:
Thank you, Crystal. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.

Crystal Lay:
Yes. Thank you so much. And thanks for all of you for joining us on this episode of ResEdChat. If you have an idea of a topic or a person you’d like us to have on the show, please let us know by reaching out to Roompact. Take care.