LGBQ college students are 8% less likely than heterosexuals to persist in STEM after 4 years versus switching to a non-STEM field.

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Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)majors do not retain transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students and cisgender students at similar rates. This article explores TGNC retention in STEM majors and describes factors that contribute to differential retention of cisgender and TGNC students.

The campus climate for LGBQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer) communities in higher education has improved, but not necessarily at religiously affiliated institutions. This case study explores how faculty, staff, and students at a Jesuit, Catholic university address LGBQ issues through interviews, participant observation, and document review. Findings revealed that participants employed a variety of tactics adapted for the Catholic higher education context like Safe Space programming, opportunities for intellectual discourse, and leveraging the curriculum. To navigate institutional power dynamics, participants utilized framing issues as congruent with the university’s mission and engaged influential allies like Jesuit priests. This study holds implications for navigating organizational power dynamics in higher education and addressing the tension posed by addressing LGBQ issues on religiously affiliated campuses.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) students persist in STEM majors at a lower rate than their heterosexual peers. This study posits that heteronormativity, as an instance of depoliticization in STEM affecting LGBQ students, could be a primary contributing factor.Using national, longitudinal data from the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA, this study tested LGBQ-related college experiences to determine if they help explain the retention gap between LGBQ STEM students and their heterosexual peers. Through multilevel regression modeling, we found that LGBQ status is not a significant predictor of retention in STEM after controlling for LGBQ-related experiences. The results suggest that LGBQ-related and other politicized experiences predict lower retention in STEM for heterosexual students, meaning a culture of depoliticization in STEM may be detrimental to more students than those in minoritized social identity groups.