Ten years ago, when the GLBT Center was just getting ready to open its doors at N.C. State, a survey was conducted among the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community gauging the climate of equality within the University. Now the center is conducting the survey again to see how things have changed and if the full equality of treatment is in sight.

Justine Hollingshead, director of the GLBT Center, wanted to conduct this survey to discover “how to make changes and meet the need of the community,” and added “research and assessment is a need.”

This survey is unique to N.C. State but takes elements from national surveys as well as from the survey taken in 2003 that was used in Vice Provost Lisa Zapata’s dissertation. She is one of the associates responsible for the health and counseling centers who did research gauging climates of the GLBT community. Zapata helped with the planning and analysis of this survey to make sure it would maximize the information they received.

The GLBT Center’s administration felt as though it was time to conduct another survey to compare the results to see how, or if, the University has grown as a more inclusive community.

“[The survey] is open to all students, faculty and staff who are in the GLBT community,” Hollingshead said.

Aside from gaining knowledge about the climate of the GLBT

community, Hollingshead and the GLBT Center are working with a graduate student in the survey process and are giving them the opportunity to earn class credit.

“Being able to partner with a graduate student to get them credit,” Hollingshead said. “Experience is rare for our field because we are not in the science or STEM fields.”

When the survey comes to a close, Hollingshead said she would like to use the results to gain more knowledge about the issues that impact the community and hopes to find ways to address the issues as the center’s director.

“I really don’t have a preconceived notion,” Hollingshead said. “But I’m hoping to be able to compare the results on the other survey and hope to see that the climate has improved.”

This survey is taking place through Feb. 14 and can be found on the GLBT Center’s website. The survey takes approximately twenty minutes to complete and should be answered as honestly as possible.