Spotlight on Adelphi's LGBTQ+ Task Force and Its Chair: Achievements and Priorities

This 10-person group, working closely with the University Diversity Committee to further support the inclusion and acceptance of students, faculty and staff who identify as LGBTQ+, looked ahead at this year’s priorities and looked back at last year’s major accomplishments.

Adam Visconti, task force chair, said its biggest accomplishment came in May 2018, when Adelphi became a Premier Campus on the Campus Pride Index.

Adelphi has boosted its index score from 59 percent (3 out of 5 stars) to 78 percent (4 out of 5 stars), he noted. In addition, in October 2018, “as part of National Coming Out Day, we unveiled a new Diversity and Inclusion tile in the AU2Go app,” he said. That, he added, “allows students to connect with Chotsani West [M.A. ’07, director of student mentoring] to match with a mentor on campus, apply for gender-inclusive housing, see the SafeZone program calendar and find the nearest all-gender accessible restroom, along with other resources.”

For 2019, the task force plans to expand support services for the LGBTQ+ community—“to earn the fifth star,” Visconti said. “Our faculty members are working on an LGBTQ+ studies minor and an outward-facing LGBTQ+ certificate,” he added. “We’re also networking with LGBTQ+ alumni and LGBTQ+ leaders in New York City to provide new opportunities and resources for our students and alumni.” To be recognized as a five-star campus, he said, “we also need a resource office with a full-time staff member who supports LGBTQ+ students and initiatives.”

The group is also striving for an LGBTQ+ social fraternity/sorority, an affinity space and student scholarships, as well as campus housing renovations allowing accessible gender-inclusive restrooms and showers.

Task Force Chair: Adam Visconti

Perry Greene, Ph.D., vice president for diversity and inclusion, impressed with Visconti’s work on the University Diversity Committee and the LGBTQ+ and Allies Committee, appointed him task force chair in Fall 2016. Visconti is also associate director of the Office of Residential Life and Housing, which he first joined in Fall 2013 as a residence hall director.

Formation of the LGBTQ+ Task Force “created an opportunity to do the great work we were already doing informally, now with the clear symbol of support that University recognition provides,” Visconti said.