LGBT student center

Since the more rapid rise of centers beginning in the late 1990s/early 2000s, there has additionally been an increasing need for these centers—particularly as the proportion of openly LGBTQ+ in the United States has steadily increased.[9][14] Awareness of centers and their resources on campus may be one of the most significant issues in regards to justification and expansion of existing centers.[9] Additionally to further awareness, there have been calls to furthering numbers of resource centers across the United States due to roughly 10-15% of U.S. institutions of higher education having a center for LGBTQ+ students.[9][10] On an international level, the Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals lists only three universities in Canada and one outside of North America that currently have resource centers for LGBTQ+ students.[10] Centers are still frequently seen as a key way to foster relationships and networking among LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff, and are often marketed as such to bring a positive awareness.[15]

Post-secondary institutions who dedicate physical space in the form of LGBTQ+ student centers contribute to a positive climate for students who identify with the LGBTQ+ community.[16] LGBTQ+ student centers act as a reminder to the LGBTQ+ community as a space known to be welcoming and accepting of all. Higher education professionals who are associated with LGBTQ+ student centres contribute to the development of an inviting and inclusive environment, also known as a "warm" campus climate.[17] This creation of a "warm" climate allows for students to develop not only intellectually through High Impact Practices (HIPs) but holistically through mentorship and counselling support.[16][18][19] This physical space has been noted as an effective way to incorporate the LGBTQ+ community in providing a safe space for students to find support while combating the adversities they experienced as students at their post-secondary institution.[16] Through qualitative accounts from students discussing the importance of this space acting as their primary stop when looking for support, students stated that they knew they would find others and more importantly professional staff who would support them through navigating processes on campus and connecting them with other professional staff that would be supportive of them.[16] LGBTQ+ student centers are key contributors in the development of inclusive environments for the LGBTQ+ community and link to academic persistence at post-secondary institutions.[17][20] The Transformational Tapestry Model (TTM) focuses on the correlation between campus climate and student persistence investigated critical incidences, harassment bias, and interactions between individuals and groups where homophobia and heterosexism were at play and it was established that these experiences decreased campus engagement for LGBTQ+ students and resulted in more students withdrawing from their institutions.[17][20] The need for inclusion on campuses is ensuring that students feel welcomed and accepted in their spaces. Inclusion at its core provides LGBTQ+ students the same engagement opportunities as their counterparts, and it provides the equity that students have been working in absence of when showcasing their true potential.[16]  

Centers have been criticized for often being established, given full-time staff, or otherwise expanded in reactive (i.e., responding to an event or events on or off-campus).[2] Additionally, many students may feel that even after the creation of a campus LGBT+ center, there may be an existing culture of hostility and homophobia and transphobia within the student body and university staff, faculty, and administration.[2] Aside from combatting prejudices toward the LGBTQ+ community, there may need to be additional work done to combat other prejudices perpetuated by members of a campus LGBTQ+ community and their center's space, staff, and programming.[21] A key critique of current outreach has been that existing centers may be unintentionally serving and targeting more privileged and "dominant" identity-holding members of a campus's LGBTQ+ community.[9][21][22] For LGBTQ+ students of color, this may negatively impact them.[9][23] The support needed to bolster higher administration to allocate the funds, staffing, and resources is often very hard to attain or takes years of momentum among predominantly undergraduate students.[24] Due to centers primarily focusing on student outreach and assistance, some have criticized the undue burden put on students, particularly undergraduates, to bring action and successful programs and acclaim from both university administrators and outside organizations like Campus Pride.[25][26] In regards to non-students, there has been additional criticism of existing centers and other university administrators for poor outreach to LGBTQ+ alumni and potential LGBTQ+ alumni donors.[5][27]