University offers $50K in scholarships to encourage LGBTQ studies minor

The University of Miami is offering a total of $50,000 for five students minoring in LGBTQ Studies, which ‘explore[s] sexuality and sexual minorities.’

According to the most recent data from the university, only five students pursued the minor during the 2021-2022 academic year.

The University of Miami is offering $50,000 in scholarships to pre-professional students minoring in LGBTQ Studies.

The university’s Gender and Sexuality Studies program will award five scholarships of up to $10,000 each to students on a pre-law, pre-med, or pre-nursing track.

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A description of the LGBTQ Studies minor says that it will help students “explore sexuality and sexual minorities from a variety of perspectives.”

“It ranges from archival research to the elaboration of queer theory, from the analysis of constitutional law to questions of public health, from the study of popular culture to investigations into the development and social construction of sexual identity,” the description continues. 

In addition to students minoring in LGBTQ Studies, the school will also consider those majoring in Gender and Sexuality Studies, so long as they have “significant LGBTQ-related course work.”

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The most recent course catalog from 2022 includes two Introduction to Gender and Sexuality Studies courses. “When your mother announced that she was pregnant with you, the first question she was probably asked was, ‘Are you having a boy or a girl?’” one of the course descriptions begins. 

According to the most recent university Fact Book, only four students pursued a B.A. in Gender and Sexuality Studies in the 2021-2022 academic year. And only five students were pursuing a minor in LGBTQ Studies out of a total undergraduate enrollment of 12,089. 

The Gender and Sexuality Studies (GSS) program is fortunate to have graduated several fantastic students,” its website reads. 

Campus Reform contacted the University of Miami, the Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies, and the LGBTQ Student Center for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.

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