Climate Survey 2019
1. Does your law school intentionally seek out LGBTQ+ prospective students?
a. If so, how and where are your efforts directed?
Using the Law School Admission Council Candidate Referral Service, we seek out potentially admissible prospective applicants who have identified as LGBTQ+ and encourage them to apply. In addition, our LGBTQ+ students write a letter to prospective applicants informing them about the Law School and also encourage them to apply or reach out with questions.
2. Does your law school's welcome packet for admitted students include mention of identity group support for LGBTQ+ students, as well as for students of color or other minorities?
3. Does your school offer students the option to self-identify as LGBTQ+ in admissions applications or post-enrollment forms?
4. Does your law school offer transgender students who have not legally changed their names the ability to have their name of choice on admission applications or post enrollment forms?
5. Does your law school provide any annual scholarships specifically for LGBTQ+ students?
6. Does your law school provide funding, including travel support, for LGBTQ+ students to participate in LGBTQ+-focused learning and career services opportunities?
a. If so, please provide details and examples of when and how those opportunities have been utilized.
The Law School has provided funding to cover travel, lodging, and registration expenses to allow students to attend the Lavender Law Conference. In addition, information about external career fairs, including those focused on LGBTQ+ hiring, is made available through the Law School's Office of Career Services and Office of Social Justice Initiatives, in conjunction with student groups (e.g., OutLaws and Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC)). The Law School also plans to implement peer mentoring and practice interview programs in collaboration with OutLaws.
7. Does your law school actively seek to employ diverse staff/faculty/administrators, including visible, out LGBTQ+ individuals?
a. If so, please detail how and where recruitment efforts are directed
The Law School works with the University's Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusion to implement best practices with regard to recruiting faculty from underrepresented groups. These efforts include the creation of a 3-year faculty diversity plan, which outlines specific steps taken by the Law School and is subject to interim monitoring from the University Provost.
8. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ faculty your law school employs (if any)
The Law School does not collect or record this information.
a. If you answered 'yes' or 'unsure,' please describe your school's process for collecting this data
9. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ staff/administrators?
10. Does your law school provide benefits such as health insurance, family medical leave, parental leave, and nontraditional family planning such as in vitro fertilization and/or adoptive benefits on equal terms to same-sex couples who are married or in registered domestic partnerships as are provided to different-sex married or registered domestic partner couples?
a. If so, please summarize or reproduce your policy here
Information regarding Columbia University's benefits and health insurance options for faculty and staff is available at https://humanresources.columbia.edu/benefits
11. Does your law school offer the aforementioned health benefits to students and their same-sex spouses/partners?
Information regarding Columbia University's benefits and health insurance options for students is available at https://health.columbia.edu
12. Does your law school offer transition-related health benefits to transgender and/or transitioning employees?
13. Does your school offer the same transition-related healthcare benefits to students and their partners/spouses?
a. If so, please summarize or reproduce your policy here (or you may email a copy of your policy to rishell@lgbtbar.org):
14. Do all students at your law school have access to counseling and/or therapy services either through the law school or the larger University?
15. Does your law school provide at least bi-annual mandatory diversity and inclusion training that incorporates robust LGBTQ+ curriculum, for all staff/faculty/administrators?
16. Does your law school provide a gender-inclusive restroom in any and/or all law school buildings?
a. How is that restroom identified (i.e., what does the signage say, is it identified on building maps, is there a gender-inclusive restroom policy that applies to all restrooms and where is that statement published, etc.)?
The Law School maintains several gender-inclusive restrooms within the four buildings it occupies on Columbia's campus. This includes one multi-stall gender-inclusive restroom. These facilities are identified with signage that simply says "Restroom."
It is Columbia University's policy that all students, faculty, staff, and visitors should use whichever restroom is most consistent with their gender identity. This policy is posted on the door to every restroom on the Law School's campus, and includes a scannable QR code that allows members of the community to quickly view a map of gender-inclusive restrooms across Columbia's campus.
17. Does your law school have one or more annual LGBTQ+ course offerings (e.g., LGBT Law and Policy, Sexual Orientation and the Law, Gender and the Law (taught with trans-inclusive and focused materials), etc.)?
a. If so, please list course names
Courses offered over the past three academic years can be viewed on the Law School's curriculum guide (https://www.law.columbia.edu/courses) by searching for "Gender and Sexuality Law" in the areas of study field.
18. Does your law school have an active, visible LGBTQ+ law student group that is supported by the institution?
19. Does your law school have a hate/bias incident policy that students are required to follow?
a. If so, does that process specifically identify sexual orientation, gender identity, or both as protected categories?
Yes. (see http://www.columbia.edu/cu/studentconduct/documents/GBMPolicyandProceduresforStudents.pdf)
b. is there a clear hate bias/incident reporting process for students/faculty/staff to utilize if necessary?
20. Please describe all additional ways, not identified through your responses, that your law school works to be safe, inclusive, and welcoming to LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and administrators:
Union University, Albany Law School
Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
University of California, Berkeley School of Law
Capital University Law School
Columbia University Law School
Concordia University School of Law
Golden Gate University School of Law
Indiana University, Maurer School of Law
Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School
University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law
University of Illinois at Chicago, John Marshall Law School
Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center
Mitchell Hamline School of Law
Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
Penn State University, Penn State Law
Penn State Dickinson Law
University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
Seattle University School of Law
Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
Southern Illinois University School of Law
St. John's University School of Law
University of Mississippi School of Law
University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law
University of California, Davis School of Law
University of California, Irvine School of Law
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
University at Buffalo School of Law
University of Florida, Levin College of Law
University of Idaho College of Law
University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
University of New Mexico School of Law
University of Oklahoma College of Law
University of Oregon School of Law
University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
Vanderbilt University School of Law
Western New England University School of Law
Widener University Commonwealth Law School