ASU Professor Meshes Work and Community Activities for the Benefit of All

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The Community Camera welcomes Dr. Madelaine Adelman, Associate Professor in the School of Justice and Social Inquiry, as this issue’s guest writer. Over the past five years, Dr. Adelman has integrated her off-campus connections and activities with her research and teaching to the mutual benefit of ASU, her students and the community.

Teaching respect in schools is just as important as “reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic.” Bullying, harassment and discrimination flourish in K-12 environments where those considered "different" are disrespected by students and adults alike. Unfortunately, in Arizona, four out of five students hear anti-gay remarks on a regular basis. A majority of students report that people at their schools are harassed or bullied because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender expression. This results in students skipping school, serial transferring, or dropping out -- as well as lowered academic achievement and diminished educational aspirations. In other words, uninterrupted anti-gay bullying and harassment harms student success.

As a professor at Arizona State University, it concerns me greatly that there are students who may not make it into my classroom because they have been bullied out of a chance to continue their education. That is why five years ago I helped to co-found and currently co-chair the Phoenix chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

GLSEN is a national education organization which seeks to create K-12 schools where all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression, have access to a safe and respectful learning environment. We envision schools where administrators, staff and teachers send a strong and consistent message to students that they can be and become themselves, no matter the composition of their family, which toys or activities they enjoy, or with whom they intend to attend the prom. It is my hope that as we transform our schools from hostile to inclusive climates, students and their families, and fellow taxpayers, will expect more from and invest more in public education.

Over the last five years, my work with GLSEN has grown significantly at the local and national level. Along the way, my experience as a scholar, educator and colleague has informed my work with GLSEN just as much as my work with GLSEN as informed the development of my scholarship, teaching and professional life.

At first, this synergistic effect emerged incrementally. I primarily relied on my academic repertoire to become a safe schools activist. I gave community talks about the prevalence and effects of anti-gay harassment in our nation’s schools. I used classroom teaching skills to become a workshop facilitator. I drew on my background in anthropology to share knowledge about the construction of social identities such as gender identity and sexual orientation. I employed my status as a university professor to gain entry into new, off-campus social networks.

Then, my GLSEN-generated skills and social networks began to improve my contribution “on campus.” I began to add school climate issues to my research agenda, pursue intellectual connections between harassment in schools and gender violence, and create collaborative projects with activists, student interns and colleagues. I transferred community organizing models into classroom discussions of social justice. I applied social movement strategic planning from the field to professional development. Today, I can easily say that this synergy is an integrated, explicit part of who I am as a scholar and social change agent.

Programs of GLSEN Phoenix focus on raising people’s awareness about the urgent need to address bullying and harassment based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. We partner with other community organizations whenever possible. EMPACT-Suicide Prevention Center is the lead partner in our “Q” programs. The QTraining program delivers workshops to K-12 school staff and members of youth-serving organizations ranging from city librarians to crisis intervention specialists. Participants comment that they “never realized the connection between fighting anti-gay bullying and dropout prevention” and “feel more confident to do the right thing”’ when they return to their school.

The QNetwork program links youth-serving organizations (ranging from Big Brothers, Big Sisters to Phoenix Youth At-Risk) in an effort to identify gaps in community resources. After the initial meeting, we recognized the lack of a crisis intervention and referral service.  Working with EMPACT-SPC, we established the QLine 24-hour crisis hotline and information referral for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight ally youth and their families.

Nurturing healthy working partnerships between youth and adults is fundamental to being a mentor at the university. This commitment is also reflected in the GLSEN philosophy that youth and adults can teach and learn from each other. Indeed, it is youth leaders who are demanding that schools be safe places for all students, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

Students trying to establish or maintain a Gay/Straight Alliance (GSA) student club will call GLSEN Phoenix, already knowing they have a right to a safe school. What we are able to provide are some resources, brainstorming and community support to help them challenge any barriers put into place by principals or parents who may be unfamiliar with the Equal Access Act or the efficacy of student civic engagement through various Days of Action such as the Day of Silence or Ally Week. Students of all ages volunteer along with adults at GLSEN Phoenix.

GLSEN Phoenix programs help to create the awareness, leadership and policies necessary to ensure that K-12 schools are safe and respectful learning environments. To help kickoff GLSEN’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Organizing Weekend and the annual No Name-Calling Week, GLSEN Phoenix will hold their “A=Art” Auction fundraiser on Saturday, January 19, 2008, at the Alwun House, 1204 E. Roosevelt, Phoenix, 85006. For more information on these or any other GLSEN Phoenix activity, please visit www.glsenphoenix.org or contact Madelaine Adelman at info@glsenphoenix.org or (602) 705-9780.

For more information:

GLSEN Phoenix
P.O. Box 2386
Phoenix, AZ 85002
(602) 705-9780
info@glsenphoenix.org

GLSEN National
90 Broad Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10004
(212) 727-0135
glsen@glsen.org

EMPACT-Suicide Prevention Center
1232 E. Broadway Rd., Ste. 120
Tempe, AZ 85282
(480) 736-4925 – QLine (Maricopa County)
(800) 527-4747 – Toll-Free QLine (Arizona)
(480) 784-1500 – Suicide/Crisis Hotline (Maricopa County)
(866) 205-5229 – Toll-Free Crisis Hotline (Arizona)
(800)-SUICIDE (724-2433) – HopeLine Suicide Hotline (National)

To learn more about how ASU is engaged with the community, please visit ASU in the Community’s Program Database which connects you to a wide variety of specific ASU outreach efforts.