To better serve the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on college campuses, some California state universities are considering putting an optional question on college applications that asks students about their sexual orientation.
USC currently does not plan to include the question on its application form, said Timothy Brunold, dean of admission.
“Part of the fear [for including it] is that for many students who are going through this process, their parents, for example, don’t even know that their son or daughter has a particular identity,” Brunold said. “One of the last things we would want to do would be to ask that student about it specifically, in fear that that student might not be ready to share his or her identity with someone who might be looking at their application.”
Brunold said USC uses the pre-orientation homework to gather that information. On the homework, students can indicate whether or not they want more information on a particular department, such as the LGBT Resource Center.