Affirming Policies, Programs, and Supportive Services: Using an Organizational Perspective to Understand LGBTQ plus College Student Success

Research indicates that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) college students face a hostile campus climate. Despite the hostile campus climate, many LGBTQ+ students persist. Understanding what helps students persist is important to student affairs professionals as they develop data-driven interventions to improve the experiences and outcomes among LGBTQ+ college students. Drawing on 60 interviews conducted as a part of the mixed-methods National Study of LGBTQ Student Success, using an organizational perspective, this qualitative investigation explores the ways in which LGBTQ+ college students draw support from policies, programs, and services. We find that LGBTQ+ resource centers and student organizations are important sources of support for this population. LGBTQ+ college students indicated that policies, including nondiscrimination policies, serve important symbolic functions. Finally, we find that LGBTQ+ students describe the campus climate in positive, neutral, and negative terms. We offer implications for practice, including the continued need for LGBTQ+ services, the ability for students to self-organize, the importance of affirming policies, and the importance of supportive college environments. We also describe implications for future research.