The Journal of College and University Student Housing has published research led by Matthew Antonio Bosch on college professionals in housing and residence life who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (LGBTQ+).
Matthew Antonio Bosch, dean of student inclusive excellence and assistant professor, has been published in the Journal of College and University Student Housing.
His research article, “We’re Here, We’re Queer, We Persevere in This Career: Experiences of LGBTQ+ Housing Professionals” is a qualitative study where LGBTQ+ staff and administrators within housing and residence life shared triumphs, obstacles, and considerations for higher education institutions related to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The stories emerging from these college professionals’ experiences exemplify an unwritten curriculum of working in higher education, whereby LGBTQ+ professionals in housing and residence life express uncertainty on what to anticipate in their professional roles regarding the consideration of their identities within a new institutional culture.
Participants discussed the varied levels of inclusion (or lack thereof) of their live-in partners, access to residential amenities, creation of safer spaces, experiences with verbal and written threats, and the ubiquity of whether or how to come out to fellow colleagues, students, families, or other university stakeholders.
The article contains recommendations for inclusion as many professionals enter housing and residence life as their entry point into the higher education profession, without receiving guidance or trust from LGBTQ+ peers, supervisors, or role models who can share real-life examples of what they might expect to encounter within their roles or larger campus environment.
Threaded across Bosch’s research is a theme of recognizing and honoring historically marginalized identities as strengths, not deficits. Among the many strengths noted, LGBTQ+ professionals shared how their resilience, resourcefulness, ability to create chosen families, advocacy for institutional equity, and heightened understanding of people across multiple marginalized identities has allowed them to stand as trailblazers of larger equity movements among universities and the higher education profession.