Our “For Admitted Students” website contains a list of all Drake Law student organizations. This list includes a primary email contact for each organization and a link to any related social media or websites.
The Drake Law application for admission offers students the opportunity to self-identify as LGBTQ+
Drake University allows a student to submit a preferred name that will appear in place of the student’s legal name in certain university records. The preferred name will appear instead of the person’s legal name in university related documents except where the use of the legal name is required by university business or legal need.
Drake has two endowed scholarships specifically for students who identify as LGBTQ+, the Craig Claussen and the Dick Davidson Scholarships.
FOR FACULTY: Drake University requires that steps be taken to diversify the candidate pool, including a requirement that all requests to interview faculty candidates on campus be accompanied by a report describing and documenting “steps taken to diversify the candidate pool.”
In the fall of 2018, Drake University instituted a new policy that all Chairs of Appointments Committees attend a 3-hour Recruitment and Advertising Workshop conducted by the Associate Provost for Campus Equity and Inclusion and the Academic Affairs Business Manager. The workshop focuses on developing an inclusive and welcoming recruitment and advertising campaign for the open faculty position. Human Resources also participates in the workshop to share expectations and updates. Furthermore, all members of the Appointments Committee are required to complete an Online Implicit Bias Training module. These procedures are useful in raising awareness of bias in the hiring process and provided strategies to deal with such biases.
The Law School relies both on the AALS Recruitment process, advertising through Drake University Human Resources, and other online sources, magazines, listservs, and blogs. While course fit is typically one of the most important factors, the recruitment committee pays attention to diversity candidates, including openly LGBTQ+ individuals, to see if there are any who might fulfill Law School needs. The committee also reviews many applications received outside of the AALS process to determine whether any were worth pursuing further. These efforts generate a diverse group of interviewees.
FOR STAFF: The University recently appointed a task force to formalize diversity outreach in staff hiring. The University has adopted multiple recommendations from the task force, resulting in the following changes to the staff hiring process:
• All faculty and staff serving on a staff hiring committee must complete an online implicit bias training within two years of the start of the hiring process;
• All staff hiring committees must submit a diversity report detailing the actions they have taken to ensure a diverse pool of applicants; • Before a committee may conduct interviews, the diversity of the candidate pool will be evaluated by Human Resources (HR). If HR determines there is insufficient diversity, the committee must create and execute a plan for recruiting more applicants; and
• All staff positions will require applicants to submit a diversity statement outlining their experience with and commitment to diversity.
The University task force recommendations apply to Law School staff hiring and will be implemented for future staff hires. Due to a University-wide hiring freeze, the implementation of the procedures has not been finalized and, as a result, the Law School has not had the chance to use them.
Our openly gay faculty/staff/administrators typically have been candid about their identity/orientation, in no small part due to the supportive environment here, and so when data is needed it is not difficult to collect.
The University does not offer health benefits to any student.
As stated above, the University does not offer health benefits to any student.
The counseling center staff have received additional training on working with the LGBTQ+ community. In 2019 we also updated all of our forms to include preferred name, pronouns, additional ways to describe sexual orientation, gender, and relationship status. We also created pronoun pins that students could wear when they came to appointments. These pins can be used on the counseling side or health center side.
Signage on accessible restrooms has been changed to “All Gender Restrooms.”
The University has determined that the nondiscrimination policy, which includes both gender identity and expression, covers the issue of restroom use.
Sexuality and the Law offered Spring 2019, then rescheduled for Fall 2019. Unfortunately, neither time did the course generate sufficient student interest to proceed.
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Anti-sexual harassment training is mandatory, but does not explicitly cover LGBTQ populations while discussing general best practices.
Yes, mandatory for all students
University inclusion training is available but not mandatory for faculty and staff. The student training is mandatory and involves robust anti-racism training involving implicit bias, which is translatable to interactions with all marginalized groups including the LGBT community.
– A standing committee on diversity and inclusion;
– An annual diversity week of events; and
– Had trans advocate Ellie Krug here Nov. 2016 to do talks on Trans 101, Being a Trans lawyer and a faculty/student/staff workshop on gray area thinking.
Drake has a wide variety of diversity and outreach initiatives.