LGBTQ At Holy Cross

Hi everyone, I applied RD to Holy Cross. My stats are 34 ACT, 4.3 GPA, strong extracurriculars, I interviewed and toured and have several family members who attended Holy Cross. My college counselor thinks I will get in because of my stats and legacy status. However, I am curious if anyone can speak to LGBTQ life or being a minority at Holy Cross. Most of the other schools I applied to (NESCACs) are not religious and have a reputation for being more liberal. I read online about a hate crime that occurred on HC campus earlier this year, which worried me. There weren’t many details released but it seems that a gay student was assaulted. Just curious if anyone can speak to the culture at Holy Cross and how life might be for a student who is openly gay. Academically HC seems like a good fit for me but I am not sure about socially.

@wisteria100 , any insight for this student?

@libarts123 Firstly, your ACT score is well within the top 25% for accepted students at HC (hard to read anything nowadays regarding GPAs given as they are all over the place depending on the high school). Secondly, as a progressive school HC bends over backwards to ensure a safe and welcoming environment. Finally, the most recent coverage referred to this as an alleged bias attack - I am not sure if the investigation yielded anything concrete at all. If you are concerned you might want to read this Worcester Telegram article: https://www.telegram.com/news/20190304/holy-cross-offers-few-details-on-alleged-hate-crimes

Holy Cross is a very welcoming and tolerant place. The college President is often one of the first college leaders to speak out about social justice issues, ie; DACA etc. There is much support for the LGBTQ community with on campus networks, mentoring programs and alum networks. I believe they even provide a list of all LGBTQ faculty/staff on their website. I don’t know a lot about that specific incident, just that it was swiftly and vociferously condemned by the HC community and I would suspect that the incident is not a regularly occurring thing.

https://www.worcestermag.com/news/20181201/holy-cross-suspends-investigation-into-alleged-bias-motivated-assault
Nothing was found to corroborate alleged bias motivated assault.

I’m a gay alum. Even when I went to HC (late 80s/early 90s), I found it to be a very welcoming and community-oriented place. I came out my senior year and got nothing but support. That said - that was my particular experience, and that was 30 years ago.

@libarts123 --A friend of mine just told me that there is currently an exhibit at Holy Cross on LGBTQ+ history at Holy Cross since 1969 called “I’m Not The Only One: LGBTQ+ Histories at Holy Cross.” The friend felt very affirmed by the college having a prominent display on this topic. Might be worth checking out!

Holy Cross has also received funding to research and create the worlds first Digital Transgender Archive an online resource cataloging trans history.

Your stats are excellent and Holy Cross is a very welcoming/tolerant school that has a proud history of not only promoting social justice but living it everyday. I had expressed similar concerns after reading about several issues on campus. After a little research I was encouraged by the administration’s response to the students. Holy Cross appears to address student concerns (LGBTQ discrimination and harassment allegations) rather than bury them. Congrats to the President for his commitment to social justice and his willingness to listen and respond to the students.

The exhibit that @BookLvr references is featured on the Holy Cross Instagram. Check it out @libarts123

As a current LGBTQ student on campus, I can safely say that I feel completely welcome on campus. When the hate crime occurred, which was mostly just because of some drunk idiot at 2AM, the school did everything in its power to show that they don’t tolerate this kind of behavior. We even had our ENGAGE Summit, where classes were cancelled for the day, in order to showcase different communities and how we all need to interact and communicate with one another. I, personally, have not experienced anything on campus that made me feel unsafe. In fact, I’m so glad I decided on Holy Cross last year because the friends I’ve met are some of the most important people in my life right now. If you wanna talk more about it @libarts123 , feel free to talk to me here or on insta (same username). Hope you’ll consider coming to the Hill in the fall! -Matt

@msexton525 Hi Matt, I’m a completely different student considering Holy Cross. I was wondering if you knew any trans students that could speak to that experience at Holy Cross. It seems like the administration is trying to implement good policy but I’d also specifically like to hear about the community.