My university (Case Western Reserve University) has been listed by the organization Campus Pride as one of the top 25 LGBT-friendly universities in the US.
The organization determined the listing, which presents the 25 schools in alphabetical, rather than ranked, order, by utilizing the data gathered from the Campus Pride Index. “Campus Pride’s Index is the only one of its kind,” said Campus Pride Executive Director Shane Windmeyer. “Unlike other commercially-driven rankings, our ratings are done for and by LGBT people and set in a foundation of solid research practice.”
Each campus included in the final listing achieved 5 stars overall in the index, plus 5 stars in sexual orientation and 5 stars in gender identity/expression for an LGBT-friendly campus. In addition, the campuses had to have 4.5 stars or above (or the highest percentages) in all eight LGBT-friendly factors.
Within the last decade, all segments of my university have made a concerted effort to make the university an LGBT-friendly place. This achievement does not mean there is no room for improvement of course, but we have definitely come a long way.
I am proud to be associated with this ranking, far more than the US News and World Report and other rankings because it says something really important about our culture.
Congratulations, Case Western Reserve!
wooo… my old school is on that list as well. 🙂
Ohio seems to be disproportionately represented (Minnesota as well), but Ohio also has a disproportionate amount of small liberal-arts schools from what I remember.
Oberlin! When I was a student there in the late 80s, our president was Fred Starr. One of his missions was to get rid of the hippie image of the school. The admissions department produced a color glossy brochure for high schools. When you opened the cover, you were met with a very attractive (Asian) woman wearing an outfit with the school colors. She was part of a group of women who went to sporting events to encourage our teams and spectators. If you were to see them in action, the word “cheerleader” would pop into your head -- but you would be WRONG!! They are members of the “Spirit Squad”, and don’t you DARE call them cheerleaders! To be fair, they did go to some women’s sporting events.
Later in the brochure was a “partial listing” of campus organizations. This included the juggling club, the Republican club (all seven members…), and dozens of others. Conspicuous in its absence was the largest organization on campus: the LGBT group. The dishonesty of this publication was appalling. Starr was eventually given his walking papers, despised by students and faculty alike.
I vaguely remember Fred Starr, I think he was trying to cancel the ‘bike derby’, and trying to limit all the chalking the LGBT group did overnight before perspective week.
I don’t think anyone watched the sporting events unless they were dating someone involved.
I didn’t realize Bechdel went there until I was reading ‘Fun Home’, and it showed her sitting in one of the womb chairs, and then buying a pocket knife at Seely’s Army/Navy surplus.
Hey, I attended two colleges on that list (both included University of California campuses)…