Units Providing Direct Care/Support
Multicultural Student Affairs
Enriches the cultural experience of Northwestern through leadership and education programming; providing opportunities for community engagement and identity expression; and assisting students in navigating the University.
Women's Center
Serves as a space for support, community, advocacy, and affirmation for women and other people who may be navigating marginalization on campus and in society.
Center for Awareness, Response and Education (CARE)
Provides a confidential space for students impacted by sexual violence, relationship violence or stalking, including friends or partners of survivors.
General Campus Information
- For on how-to guides and support around campus housing, bathrooms, name / gender change protocols, visit Multicultural Student Affairs’ “Queer @ NU” page.
- MSA keeps a number of additional resource lists (local events, student groups, community resources, ways to be an ally, etc). They also maintain the Gender & Sexuality Resource Center.
- OIDI’s Gender Inclusive Initiatives maintains a list of resources regarding pronoun awareness, trans inclusive teaching guides, equity reports, reading recommendations, etc.
- Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) | serves as the primary mental health service at Northwestern.
- Northwestern’s Health Service | provides limited on-campus medical care.
- Northwestern Medicine’s Gender Pathways Program | provides gender affirming care to transgender and gender non-binary individuals.
Faculty & Staff Resources
- Out Network | faculty and staff affinity group
- LGBTQIA+ Welcoming Reception | annual OIDI & Women’s Center event for faculty and staff
- Lavender Lunch Drop-in Series | The Women’s Center hosts a bi-weekly virtual meetup for trans, non-binary, and queer staff, faculty, and students to connect and build community.
- Writing about gender and sexual identity | Global Marketing & Communications put together this inclusive language guide.
Academic & Research Units
Center for Applied Transgender Studies (CATS)
The Center for Applied Transgender Studies is the leading academic organization dedicated to scholarship on the social, cultural, and political conditions of transgender life.
Gender & Sexuality Studies (GSS)
Gender & Sexuality Studies is a dynamic interdisciplinary program at Northwestern. Courses emphasize feminist, gay/lesbian, trans, queer, and other ways of knowing specific to sex and gender, as applied through fields like history, literature, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, film and media, political science, and public health.
Institute for Sexual and Gender Minority Health (ISGMH)
As a university-wide institute, our mission is to connect scholars from numerous disciplines with the SGM community to forge collaborations and stimulate innovative research to improve SGM health and wellbeing.
Units Providing Institutional Support
Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI)
OIDI seeks to help create and sustain a diverse, inclusive and welcoming environment for all Northwestern community members including students, faculty, staff and alumni.
Office of Equity
The Office of Equity offers a variety of informational sessions, trainings, and workshops designed to inform students, staff, faculty, and visitors about their rights and responsibilities as members of the Northwestern community, and to equip community members with the tools to create a vibrant, equitable, and accessible learning environment for all.
Associated Student Government (ASG)
The Associated Student Government at Northwestern University is dedicated to serving the undergraduate student body. Through collaboration, communication, and advocacy, they seek to ensure that Northwestern University serves its students above all else.