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Climate Survey 2019

Connect, Share Knowledge, and Succeed Within the LGBTQ+ and Ally Legal Community.

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law

January 11, 2019

1. Does your law school intentionally seek out LGBTQ+ prospective students?
No
a. If so, how and where are your efforts directed?
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?
No
3. Does your school offer students the option to self-identify as LGBTQ+ in admissions applications or post-enrollment forms?
Yes

We conduct a demographic survey at orientation that asks students about sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

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?
No
5. Does your law school provide any annual scholarships specifically for LGBTQ+ students?
No
6. Does your law school provide funding, including travel support, for LGBTQ+ students to participate in LGBTQ+-focused learning and career services opportunities?
Yes
a. If so, please provide details and examples of when and how those opportunities have been utilized.

Through the Student Bar Association, students are able to request funding for travel for professional development and leadership opportunities.

7. Does your law school actively seek to employ diverse staff/faculty/administrators, including visible, out LGBTQ+ individuals?
Yes
a. If so, please detail how and where recruitment efforts are directed

We contact affinity bar associations whenever we are hiring.

8. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ faculty your law school employs (if any)
4
a. If you answered 'yes' or 'unsure,' please describe your school's process for collecting this data
Lesbian
1
Gay
1
Bisexual
1
Queer
1
How many out LGBTQ+ faculty of color does your institution currently employ in total?
1
9. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ staff/administrators?
0
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?
Yes
a. If so, please summarize or reproduce your policy here

Health insurance, FMLA, parental leave, and adoption benefits are available to all married couples, whether in same-sex or heterosexual marriages.  Benefits are not extended to couples in registered domestic partnerships, whether same-sex or heterosexual.

11. Does your law school offer the aforementioned health benefits to students and their same-sex spouses/partners?
Yes
a. If so, please summarize or reproduce your policy here

Students are able to purchase student health insurance, and can list spouses as dependents, whether the marriage is a same-sex or heterosexual marriage.

12. Does your law school offer transition-related health benefits to transgender and/or transitioning employees?
No
a. If so, please summarize or reproduce your policy here
13. Does your school offer the same transition-related healthcare benefits to students and their partners/spouses?
No
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?
Yes
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?
Yes
16. Does your law school provide a gender-inclusive restroom in any and/or all law school buildings?
Yes
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.)?

We have 5 all gender restrooms (two in our clinic building, two in the law library, and one in the classroom building).  These restrooms have signs that indicate that they are all gender restrooms.

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.)?
Yes
a. If so, please list course names

Gender and the Law

18. Does your law school have an active, visible LGBTQ+ law student group that is supported by the institution?
Yes
19. Does your law school have a hate/bias incident policy that students are required to follow?
Yes
a. If so, does that process specifically identify sexual orientation, gender identity, or both as protected categories?

Our Students Civil Rights Grievance Procedure recognizes sexual orientation as a protected category.  Our University wide Policy Prohibiting Sex and Gender-Based Harassment prohibits harassment based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression.

b. is there a clear hate bias/incident reporting process for students/faculty/staff to utilize if necessary?
Yes
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:

As a Catholic institution, we know that students, faculty, and administrators that identify as LGBTQ+ may come to us with a belief that this institution does not welcome them.  We find that once a person is in the door to interview for a position or for an admissions-related event, they experience us as a welcoming environment.