Neill Ballantyne. Picture / OUSA Otago University’s queer support coordinator is running a survey to find out how safe queer students believe the campus is. "This is an important opportunity to gauge how inclusive and safe our campus environment is for all people but especially our queer and questioning students," says OUSA Queer Support Coordinator Neill Ballantyne. He says international studies have found the tertiary education environment can seem “chilly” to queer students, and not up to scratch when it comes to acceptance, inclusion and safety. The results will be compared to research carried out at Unitec, and a US study. "The Unitec studies showed systematic cultures of non-disclosure and fear of discrimination. Whilst I would like to think that we are doing better here at Otago, this study will help us get a better understanding of where we’re at,” Ballantyne says. More than 500 students took part in the study in just its first 24 hours. It will remain open until April 30.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 8th April 2014 - 2:45pm