Texas Tech offers scholarship for 'LGBTQIA Leadership'

Texas Tech University’s  LGBTQIA Leadership/Service Scholarships may be awarded to students with less than a B-average, but do have “leadership/service experience” in the LGBTQ+ community. 

The $500 awards will go to “undergraduate and graduate students who demonstrate outstanding leadership in the LGBTQIA community.” Requirements for this scholarship include being a full-time student at Texas Tech, with a minimum 2.5 GPA, and proof of leadership in the form of written essays and references. 

”Describe a situation in which you demonstrated leadership in matters particularly relevant to the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) people,” one essay prompts reads.

[RELATED: Here’s how much UC-Santa Barbara is willing to pay an LGBTQ ‘advocate’] 

TTU junior Kenzie Gardener told Campus Reform that the scholarship is a “waste” of funds.

“There are other scholarships that serve the same purpose without catering to a small population,” Gardener said.

However, Texas Tech is not the first university to sponsor a scholarship for social justice advocates.

[RELATED: HRC condemns Hopkins study as ‘attack on LGBT communities’]

This year, the student government at the California State University, Northridge approved funding for a social justice scholarship.

In May, Campus Reform reported on eight corporations that offer higher education scholarships on the basis of race. 

Additionally, Gonzaga University’s student government has attempted to secure a $2,500 scholarship for illegal immigrants and the University of Minnesota created the George Floyd Memorial Scholarship in June 2020. 

Campus Reform reached out to Texas Tech for comment; this article will be updated accordingly.