While LGBTQ college students are becoming more visible on campus, they are still marginalized. After all, queer students of color are more likely to feel uncomfortable on campus and encounter higher rates of harassment than their White queer peers. Recognizing that this goes beyond just individual-level actions and behaviors, more attention must be paid to the policies that create these educational environments. Ultimately, to truly be equitable for all groups of students, higher education policy must be intersectional and mindful of students with multiple marginalized identities (e.g., sexuality and race/ethnicity). We must challenge existing approaches to policy that reinforce heterosexism and simultaneously privilege White students.

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More than 40 states have set goals to increase the number of adults who have a college degree or high-quality professional credential within the next few years. But far fewer states have set goals and created policies to close racial equity gaps in pursuit of higher college graduation rates.

Some states, such as Indiana, that did take steps to close these gaps are seeing progress after following through on specific set goals.

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You might think that the culture war over race and immigration primarily transpires in dramatic events, like the woman who climbed the Statue of Liberty to protest Trump’s child detention policy or the events in Charlottesville last summer.

But it also exists in the banal and everyday ways that we communicate.

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Colleges and universities will be trumpeting their horns over the next few months, celebrating the beginning of another school year filled with lots of promise and anticipation for many among administrators, teachers, behind-the-scenes staffers and students.

The excitement masks a growing sense of anxiety, however, especially among historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), as warning signs abound for many small and mid-size institutions.

Overall, enrollment in higher education continues to decline at many small and mid-size schools across the country, says higher education analysts who note that many institutions are heavily dependent upon tuition, federal student aid and philanthropic donors.

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Calli Norton is one happy college graduate.

Not only did the lover of politics begin an exciting job in her field of study right after graduating West Virginia State University (WVSU) this spring, she’s working exactly where she wants – in Washington, D.C., the nation’s seat of government, public policy and power.

“I’m right up my alley here,” says Norton, who studied communications and public relations and works as an analyst at a digital political-strategy and marketing firm. “It’s awesome being here.”

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All eyes will be on Spelman College — one of two historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) solely for women — as it joins the ranks of all-women’s colleges that officially have an admissions policy for transgender students this 2018-2019 academic year.

Although trans women and other students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) have  attended the college since its inception, the Atlanta-based HBCU’s updated admissions and enrollment policy extending admissions consideration to trans women comes with new challenges and expectations from internal and external institutional constituents.

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As a teenager growing up in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, Akili Tommasino used to cut class to visit artworks like the ancient Egyptian “Head from a Female Sphinx” with gaping eye sockets at the Brooklyn Museum, or Umberto Boccioni’s striding bronze figure, “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space,” at the Museum of Modern Art.

Wandering through the galleries, Mr. Tommasino also couldn’t help noticing that the only people of color he saw were the security guards; it wasn’t until he later studied art history at Harvard that Mr. Tommasino realized African-Americans like himself could also be curators, or even museum directors.

For decades the country’s mainstream art museums have excluded people of color — from their top leadership to the curators who create shows to the artists they display on their walls.

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American companies have spent years trying to become more welcoming to women. They have rolled out generous parental leave policies, designed cushy lactation rooms and plowed millions of dollars into programs aimed at retaining mothers.

But these advances haven’t changed a simple fact: Whether women work at Walmart or on Wall Street, getting pregnant is often the moment they are knocked off the professional ladder.

Throughout the American workplace, pregnancy discrimination remains widespread. It can start as soon as a woman is showing, and it often lasts through her early years as a mother.

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Despite more than five decades of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), older workers continue to face discrimination at alarming rates, according to a new report by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

When the ADEA was first passed in 1967 to protect employees older than 40, the American workforce was comprised of mostly younger, male workers. Since Baby Boomers began entering the workforce that year, the labor force has grown rapidly while becoming more female and more diverse.

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When deteriorating health forced David McClure, who is 81, to enter first one Ottawa nursing home, and then another, he felt as though he was going back into the closet, after decades out of it. “I couldn’t let my gayness show,” he said. “The looks were very askance.”

But when a degenerative neuromuscular disease compelled Paul Leroux, 62, to enter a different nursing home, “they welcomed me with open arms.” He is organizing the centre’s first Pride Day later this month. As the only openly gay resident (though he has his suspicions…), he’s stressing that Pride means pride for all.

The contrast is revealing. Improving the quality of life for queer seniors nearing the end of life is the next frontier for LGBTQ activists. In some long-term care facilities, staff are trained and vigilant in protecting the rights of sexual minorities. In others, ignorance can lead to discrimination.

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