Since Suicide, More Resources for Transgender and Gay StudentsBy ARIEL KAMINER | Published: September 21, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/nyregion/after-clementis-suicide-rutgers-embraces-its-gay-and-transgender-students.html?_r=1NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — It has been two years since Tyler Clementi, a gay freshman at Rutgers University, committed suicide after learning that his roommate had ridiculed his sexuality and invited friends to spy on him and another man through a webcam. That terrible episode brought the school national attention, none of it welcome: previously known as a large and diverse state school, Rutgers became associated with homophobia and cruelty.
But today, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students and their supporters can choose from four specialized housing options, three of them new, ranging from a service to pair them with like-minded roommates to Rainbow Perspectives, a floor in a residence hall organized around common interests. They can now turn for support to the 130 staff and faculty members who have been trained as official campus liaisons, or to the graduates of a new training program for "allies," whose inaugural session is already booked to capacity. This year's edition of a handbook that lists campus resources for "queer issues" is 92 pages long.
