Out in the Classroom: The Transgender Student Experience

• In Event: College Student Experiences With Diversity

Abstract

While LGBT students are finding more acceptances on college campuses (Pusch, 2005), more than one-third of transgender students have experienced harassment in college life (Rankin, Blumenfield, Weber, & Frazer, 2010). This study seeks to understand the experiences of transgender students in the college classroom and what perceptions and assumptions arise from interactions with faculty and peers. Through qualitative interviews, I found four themes that encompass the classroom experiences of transgender undergraduate students at a Midwest research public university: gender expression and coming out, peer support in the classroom, faculty interactions, and campus conflicts impact the classroom. Overall, these transgender student stories express marginalization from faculty and peers, but the rise of unexpected friends from class peers. Implications are discussed below.

Author

• Jonathan Thomas Ta-Pryor, University of Missouri