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LGBTQ+ Students at Rensselaer

With an active LGBTQ+ student, faculty, and staff community and a fully inclusive nondiscrimination policy, Rensselaer asks all students, “Why Not Change The World?”

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Resources

There are a variety of resources available for the LGBTQ+ community. Visit the links below for more information.

Academics

While there are no classes that deal exclusively with LGBTQ+ issues, there are many classes that may include a discussion of LGBTQ+ topics. 

Classes that are frequently offered within the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences:

  • Human Sexuality
  • Social Psychology
  • Human Factors
  • Gender, Science, and Technology (STS)
  • Bio-punk (ARTS)
  • Queer Ecologies (ARTS)
Bias, Discrimination, and/or Hate Crimes — Reporting

Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART)

The Bias Assessment and Response Team (BART) is a nimble, far-reaching, comprehensive committee with the necessary specialties, talent, and knowledge to respond to the emergent needs of the Rensselaer student community as it relates to incidents of bias, hate, or other marginalizing acts.

Reporting for Staff & Faculty 

To report incidents of bias, discrimination, or harassment against faculty and/or staff, please use the Discrimination and Harassment Complaint Form or contact Human Resources via email at hrmail@rpi.edu

Employee Support

RPI’s Division of Human Resources (518) 276-6302

RPI’s Employee Assistance Program (518) 465-3813 or 1-800-777-6531

The Employee Assistance Program makes professional counseling assistance available for any personal problems that may affect the quality of your life and adversely impact your job performance. Capital EAP provides free and confidential assessment, short-term counseling, and information/referral services to RPI employees and their families (spouse and dependents).

Gender-Inclusive Housing

Gender-neutral/inclusive housing is available to both freshmen and upperclassmen living in Rensselaer residence halls. For more information, please contact the Office of Student Living and Learning

Gender-Inclusive Restrooms

For your convenience, numerous gender-inclusive restrooms are available throughout campus.

Single-Occupancy Restrooms (Rensselaer Main Campus) 

This list was complied by volunteers and is current as of August 1, 2019. Please help us keep this list current and contact the LBGTQ+ Task Force with any updates to this list. 

BUILDING FLOOR/LEVEL SIGNAGE HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE
ACADEMY HALL 2nd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom No
ACADEMY HALL 2nd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
ACADEMY HALL 2nd Floor Women Yes
ACADEMY HALL 3rd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
ACADEMY HALL 3rd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom  Yes
ACADEMY HALL 4th Floor Women Yes
ACADEMY HALL 4th Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
ACADEMY HALL 4th Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom No
ADMISSIONS BLDG 2nd Floor Women No
AMOS EATON HALL 1st Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
AMOS EATON HALL 1st Floor Women Yes
EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Information Desk Level Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA AND PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Cafe Level Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
LOW CENTER FOR INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION 4th Floor Women No
LOW CENTER FOR INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION 4th Floor Men No
MATERIALS RESEARCH CENTER 1st Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
MATERIALS RESEARCH CENTER 2nd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
MATERIALS RESEARCH CENTER 3rd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
MUELLER CENTER 1st Floor Men Yes
MUELLER CENTER 1st Floor Men Yes
MUELLER CENTER 1st Floor Women Yes
MUELLER CENTER 1st Floor Women Yes
PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICES Main Floor Visitor Restroom No
PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICES Main Floor Visitor Restroom No
RENSSELAER UNION (Mothers) 1st Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
RENSSELAER UNION (Patroon Room) 2nd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
RICKETTS BUILDING 2nd Floor Women No
RICKETTS BUILDING 4th Floor Restroom No
TROY BUILDING 2nd Floor Gender-Neutral Restroom Yes
WEST HALL Ground Floor Restroom No
LGBTQ+ Mentoring Network

The LGBTQ+ Mentoring Network is a program designed to engage mentors (“out” LGBTQ+ staff, faculty, and alumni) and mentees (LGBTQ+ undergraduate and graduate students) in mentoring relationships.
Mentors may:

  • Be a friendly face on campus, in person, and/or virtually to connect with
  • Provide professional advice and emotional support
  • Help mentees cultivate positive self-esteem
  • Build rewarding personal relationships with mentees
  • Serve as healthy and successful role models
  • Help mentees address issues or concerns related to their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, and/or gender identity and expression

Mentors are not professional counselors. When appropriate, mentors may suggest mentees seek out professional counseling as a means to support their mental health. Mentees are not required to seek out and/or participate in counseling. However, mentees should respect the limitations of mentors who do not have advanced professional degrees in mental health.
 

For more information, contact Tara R. Schuster, Coordinator of the LGBTQ+ Mentoring Network at schust@rpi.edu

LGBTQ+ Task Force

Rensselaer provides a variety of resources for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ+) campus community. The “LGBTQ+ Task Force” is a volunteer group of staff, faculty, and students from Rensselaer who work towards creating a more inclusive and welcoming campus community for LGBTQ+ campus community members and their guests, alumni, and visitors. Members of the LGBTQ+ Task Force work across four subcommittee areas to help create a more inclusive and welcoming campus community: Policy, Curriculum, Events, and External Relations. You are encouraged to join our Discord Channel.

Part of the mission of the LGBTQ+ Task Force is to ensure that all LGBTQ+ campus community members at Rensselaer have the right and expectation of safety in their personal identity and the expression of that identity, whatever it may be, within the bounds of both the law and mutual respect for the differences of other members of the Institute.  

Examples of past (and ongoing) LGBTQ+ Task Force projects include: the re-designation of single occupancy restrooms on campus as gender-neutral restrooms; completion of a campus climate index assessment that utilized best practices to determine campus strengths and areas for improvement; utilizing information garnered from said assessment to advise next steps and initiatives; development of an annual Lavender Graduation for LGBTQ+ graduates; and a biennial campus-wide event series. 

All activities of the LGBTQ+ Task Force are made possible by generous donations by the RPI community and alumni. Please consider donating to the LGBTQ+ Gift Fund.

For questions regarding the LGBTQ+ Task Force, resources, or support, please contact us at lgbtqtaskforce@rpi.edu

Off-Campus Resources

LOCAL LGBTQ RESOURCE CENTERS

Pride Center of the Capital Region (518) 462-6138

The Pride Center of the Capital Region (Capital Pride Center) is dedicated to serving the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the Capital District. Based in Albany, the Pride Center has been meeting the diverse needs of LGBT people in a seven county region since 1970. Our programs, both at the Center (332 Hudson Ave. in Albany) as well as held throughout the region, meet the health and human service needs of the LGBT community as well as educate and advocate for those needs in the broader Capital District. As the oldest continuously-operating gay and lesbian community center in the country, the Pride Center has worked to build a welcoming and empowering community for all people.

In Our Own Voices (518) 432-4188

The mission of In Our Own Voices is to work for and ensure the physical, mental, spiritual, political, cultural and economic survival and growth of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color communities.

RPI Rainbow Connection

The RPI Rainbow Connection is a Discord space for the RPI queer community and allies to meet, discuss, and share advice. This space is also the home of the RPI LGBTQ+ Mentoring Network. Click to join our Discord Channel.

For more information, contact Tara R. Schuster, Administrator of the RPI Rainbow Connection, at schust@rpi.edu

Student Clubs and Organizations

Rensselaer Pride Alliance 

The Rensselaer Pride Alliance (RPA) is a non-partisan student-run organization at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. RPA’s purpose is to provide support and advocacy for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, and allied individuals within the Rensselaer community. RPA tries to increase positive awareness of the LGBTQQA community by hosting speakers, movies, and participating in festivals such as Coming-Out Week and AIDS Awareness Week. RPA tries whenever possible to provide educational information on issues concerning the LGBTQQA community as a means to help stop homophobia and transphobia. Click to join their Discord Server.

Trans RPI

With 100+ members of the Rensselaer community (students, former students, and alumni), this “for students, by students” group is open only to trans, nonbinary, and gender-questioning folks in order to have a safe space to create community and support each other through school. If you are interested in joining the Trans RPI Discord Server, please reach out to Tara R. Schuster, Administrator of RPI Rainbow Connection and LGBTQ+ Mentoring Network, at schust@rpi.edu who can put you in touch with student administrators.