On Friday, November 7, 2025, the DKU faculty, staff, and students were invited to our 3rd reading session on “Embracing Diversity: Developing Cultural Competence for Inclusive Education”. This time, our discussion focused on Formby’s (2017) article: “How should we ‘care’ for LGBT+ students within higher education?” The text explores the experiences of LGBTQ+ students in UK higher education and proposes implications for pastoral care, arguing for structural changes to promote inclusion rather than framing these students as “vulnerable” or focusing solely on individual support. The text highlights that the root issues lie in systemic heteronormativity and cisnormativity in universities, requiring institutional rather than individual-focused solutions. Key recommendations for good practices include mainstreaming inclusive curriculum and visible diversity; providing gender-neutral facilities and updatable name/gender records; resourcing and training student-led LGBTQ+ groups; and offering inclusive, non-victimizing support services (including careers and accommodation).
Both familiar and new faces attended the reading group event. During the one-hour event,
participants were divided into three groups, with each group tasked with discussing four tailored questions focused on DKU’s unique context. The discussion questions centered on four core areas: (1) alignment of Formby’s recommended initiatives with DKU’s teaching environment and faculty/staff support needs; (2) implementation challenges (e.g., cultural differences, resource constraints) for key initiatives like curriculum revision, staff training, and facility upgrades, plus proactive solutions; (3) DKU-specific inclusive initiatives (addressing international student experiences, bilingual settings, interdisciplinary models); and (4) meaningful curriculum integration of LGBTQ+ content in underrepresented fields (e.g., STEM). Groups engaged in focused, collaborative dialogue, leveraging Formby’s research to ground their reflections on DKU’s specific context, including its international student body, bilingual campus, and interdisciplinary strengths.The event highlighted the essential next step that gender issues should be better taken into consideration throughout the entire institutional context.
At the end of the event, an announcement for our next session was made. Scheduled for spring 2026, the event will feature an invited speaker delivering a talk on how gender is reflected in textbooks within the Japanese context. Faculty and students expressed great interest, and their questions will be collected in advance to share with the speaker.
The event was organized by Zhenjie Weng, Assistant Professor of English Language Education, and Yanan Zhao, Senior Lecturer of English for Academic Purposes, from the Language and Culture Center. The event was sponsored by the Humanities Research Center, which covered the fees for event promotion and refreshments for attendees.
