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

    Climate Survey 2019

    University of Kansas School of Law

    University of Kansas School of Law

    January 8, 2019

    1. Does your law school intentionally seek out LGBTQ+ prospective students?
    Yes
    a. If so, how and where are your efforts directed?

    Yes. The Law School seeks to recruit LGBTQ students in a number of ways. During our admitted students weekend, representatives from our LGBTQ student group (Outlaws & Allies) are invited to speak to the entire cohort of admitted students. Select admitted students are also invited to attend the Law School’s annual Diversity Banquet in order to introduce them to the law school faculty and alumni base. Admitted LGBTQ students receive a call from a member of Outlaw & Allies to congratulate them on their admission and answer any questions the prospective student might have about the climate at the Law School. In addition, Law School alumni who are members of the LGBTQ community will reach out to students. Outlaws & Allies, in collaboration, in conjunction with the KU undergraduate LGBTQ group also hosts community events that are open to high school students and the general public at which these individuals interact with law students.

    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?
    Yes

    Yes, but in a limited fashion. Recently hired admissions professionals are currently working to develop a plan to target prospective students and add content to the welcome packet. The welcome package directs students to access online resources, which include information about LGBTQ events.

    3. Does your school offer students the option to self-identify as LGBTQ+ in admissions applications or post-enrollment forms?
    Yes

    Yes, on the admissions application.

    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?
    Yes

    Yes, there is the option for a preferred name.

    5. Does your law school provide any annual scholarships specifically for LGBTQ+ students?
    No

    The Law School offers a range of scholarships aimed at members of the diverse community. A local bar association makes available a scholarship for LGBTQ students at the three area law schools.

    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.

    Travel funds are available to representatives from student organizations to attend events that advance the interests of the law school. The Law School recently provided travel funds for a student to attend the Lavender Law conference.

    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

    While faculty hiring has been limited in recent years due to budget concerns, the last three full-time faculty hired by the Law School include a Black male, Black female, and LGBT female. Our most recent clinical hire was a Native American male.

    Budget concerns have also impacted staff hiring. However, the most recent hire, in the Admissions Office, is an LGBT male. He replaced a Black female.

    8. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ faculty your law school employs (if any)
    One - Our most recent faculty hire self-identifies as LGBTQ.
    a. If you answered 'yes' or 'unsure,' please describe your school's process for collecting this data
    9. Please identify, to your knowledge, how many out LGBTQ+ staff/administrators?
    Three out of a total of 21 staff and administrators identify as LGBTQ+.
    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 – any married spouse (legally married or common-law married), whether same-sex or different-sex, is eligible to be covered under the employee’s health plan through the State Employee Health Plan (SEHP). If in vitro fertilization is a covered benefit, then it would be available to those in the SEHP. The Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) does not currently have a “parental leave” policy.

    Eligible employees may receive protection under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) due to the birth of a child or placement of a child through adoption or foster care. The FMLA provides job protection to eligible employees who are a parent of a the newly placed child/new born child, to include same sex parents and/or regardless of the relationship between the parents so long as the individual is a “parent” to the new born child/placed child.

    This is a link to our Family Medical Leave Act policy http://policy.ku.edu/human-resources/family-medical-leave.

    Additionally, the Parental Shared Leave program at KU provides up to 12 weeks of paid leave to eligible employees who are a parent to a new born child/child placed through adoption or foster care. Same as with the FMLA, parental shared leave can be approved for eligible employees who are a parent of a the newly placed child/new born child, to include same sex parents and/or regardless of the relationship between the parents so long as the individual is a “parent” to the new born child/placed child.

    Here’s our Shared Leave Policy: http://policy.ku.edu/human-resources/shared-leave

    Absence from work due to in vitro fertilization may qualify for coverage under the Family Medical Leave Act. As the FMLA does not identify specific conditions that do/don’t meet the criterial of a serious health condition under the FMLA, we would have to review such a request for FMLA on a case by case basis and review the completed certification form to make an official determination.

    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

    The Kansas Board of Regents offers health insurance to students who can cover a legal spouse. https://www.uhcsr.com/

    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

    We cannot confirm whether the State Employee Health Plan offers this benefit. We reached out to University administrators to find this information. They reached out to the State of Kansas but have not received a reply.

    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):

    We cannot confirm whether the State Employee Health Plan offers this benefit. We reached out to University administrators to find this information. They reached out to the State of Kansas but have not received a reply.

    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.)?

    The restroom is identified as All Gender. We are uncertain whether the restroom is on campus building maps. We have notified the Office of Inclusion and asked that it be identified.

    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

    Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning Seminar. Another course, Advanced Topics in Family Law, regularly covers issues pertaining to LGBTQ-inclusive topics.

    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?

    Yes

    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:

    In addition to our commitment to supporting faculty and staff, the Law School has made extensive efforts to incorporate LGBTQ issues into our curriculum and expose the entire student to these issues. In the first year, first-year student attend a mandatory orientation session at which diversity and inclusion issues are discussed. Starting this semester, 1L law students must attend another series of “orientation” sessions at which inclusion issues will be discussed within the context of law firm hiring and professionalism. During the second year, students are further exposed to inclusion issues in their required Professional Responsibility course. And during the third year, all students participating in a clinic must complete a mandatory cultural competency training session. In addition, many faculty, staff, and administrators have completed Safe Zone training, which exposes them to a wide range of inclusion issues.

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    Survey 2019

    • Union University, Albany Law School
    • Yeshiva University, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
    • University of California, Berkeley School of Law
    • Boston University School of Law
    • California Western School of Law
    • Capital University Law School
    • Cleveland-Marshall College of Law
    • Columbia University Law School
    • Concordia University School of Law
    • Creighton University School of Law
    • Drake University Law School
    • Florida State University College of Law
    • George Washington University Law School
    • Georgia State University College of Law
    • Golden Gate University School of Law
    • Gonzaga University School of Law
    • Indiana University, Maurer School of Law
    • Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School
    • University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law
    • University of Illinois at Chicago, John Marshall Law School
    • Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center
    • University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law
    • Michigan State University College of Law
    • Mitchell Hamline School of Law
    • New York University School of Law
    • Northeastern University School of Law
    • Notre Dame Law School
    • Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law
    • Penn State University, Penn State Law
    • Penn State Dickinson Law
    • Rutgers Law School
    • University of Utah, S.J. Quinney College of Law
    • Santa Clara University School of Law
    • Seattle University School of Law
    • Seton Hall University School of Law
    • Southern Methodist University, Dedman School of Law
    • Southern Illinois University School of Law
    • Southern University Law Center
    • Southwestern Law School
    • St. John’s University School of Law
    • Stetson University College of Law
    • Syracuse University College of Law
    • University of Akron School of Law
    • University of Alabama School of Law
    • University of Iowa College of Law
    • University of Mississippi School of Law
    • University of Arkansas at Little Rock, William H. Bowen School of Law
    • University of California, Davis School of Law
    • University of California, Irvine School of Law
    • University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
    • University at Buffalo School of Law
    • University of Detroit Mercy School of Law
    • University of Florida, Levin College of Law
    • University of Idaho College of Law
    • University of Kansas School of Law
    • University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law
    • University of New Mexico School of Law
    • University of Oklahoma College of Law
    • University of Oregon School of Law
    • University of Pittsburgh School of Law
    • University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
    • Vanderbilt University School of Law
    • Washburn University School of Law
    • Western New England University School of Law
    • Widener University Commonwealth Law School
    • William & Mary Law School
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