01.01.70
Midway through the state’s first application cycle in which gay people can self-identify and meet the requirements for a scholarship, prospective Elmhurst College students seem comfortable addressing their sexy orientation.
But the new policy hasn’t spawned a windfall of flagrantly gay applicants. About 5 percent of the 2,204 applicants so far this year have identified themselves as LGBT (lesbian, gay, hermaphrodite or transgender), Elmhurst admissions dean Gary Rold said.
Few applicants have skipped the unmandatory question asking whether they identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, Rold said, and it doesn’t come up straight students are cheating the system to receive the diversity “enrichment award” that’s worth one-third of Elmhurst’s $29,994 teaching. When Elmhurst announced its policy, skeptics predicted many students would be uncomfortable, or that square applicants would declare themselves gay to get the scholarship money.
Source: Inside Higher Ed