This marks the fourth year of recognition by the Campus Pride organization.
For a fourth consecutive year, a national advocacy group has named Elon University among the top American colleges and universities for policies, programs and practices friendly to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.
Elon received five out of five stars and was named one of the 30 “Best of the Best” by Campus Pride, one of the nation’s largest educational organizations for LGBTQIA college students and campus groups, for setting high standards for LGBTQ inclusion. Campus Pride offered the recognition after examining the policies, programs and practices of more than 330 schools. The complete list is available here.
“LGBTQ youth and families want to know what campuses are doing when it comes to inclusive policies, programs and practices – not only for four-year colleges but also two-year colleges. The ‘Best of the Best’ highlights the Top 30 this year for four-year colleges and the Top 5 for two-year and community colleges,’” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride and creator of the Campus Pride Index. “Campus Pride is proud at the growing number of campuses that are improving their LGBTQ campus climate and wanting to be the ‘Best of the Best’ each year.”
Mathew Antonio Bosch, director of the Gender & LGBTQIA Center at Elon, said the recognition is evidence of a sustained presence on the national stage regarding LGBTQIA inclusion. Elon stands out among universities in the South for the way it promotes programs, policies and practices that prepare students for optimal success at college, with many students citing Elon’s ranking on the Campus Pride Index as a key indicator for applying and enrolling, Bosch said.
“It’s a community effort across students, faculty, staff, and alumni,” Bosch said. “Many of us do work in systemic ways and the everyday interactions and fostered the type of community that many universities strive to be. That’s the best part about Elon, the relationships that drive understanding and change.”
Campus Pride is a trusted, reliable educational resource for students and families to find the best campuses for LGBTQ inclusion and safety. The organization works alongside students, faculty, staff and administrators at more than 1,400 campuses annually to help support and improve the quality of campus life for LGBTQ people.
The Campus Pride Index is based in research on policy, program and practice and is conducted for and by LGBTQ experts in the field of higher education. Each campus updates its index annually and uses the Campus Pride benchmarking tool to make improvements for LGBTQ life on campus. To be in the Top 30 listing, an institution had to score the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks.
The schools listed on the Campus Pride top-30 ranking include the following, in alphabetical order:
Augsburg University – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Elon University — Elon, N.C.
Guilford College — Greensboro, N.C.
Harvey Mudd College – Claremont, California
Indiana University Bloomington – Bloomington, Indiana
Ithaca College – Ithaca, New York
Kansas State University – Manhattan, Kansas
Lehigh University — Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Macalester College – Saint Paul, Minnesota
Montclair State University – Montclair, New Jersey
The Ohio State University – Columbus, Ohio
The Pennsylvania State University – University Park, Pennsylvania
Portland State University – Portland, Oregon
Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick – New Brunswick, New Jersey
San Diego State University – San Diego, California
Southern Oregon University – Ashland, Oregon
Tufts University – Medford, Massachusetts
University of Colorado at Boulder – Boulder, Colorado
University of Kentucky – Lexington, Kentucky
University of Louisville – Louisville, Kentucky
University of Maryland, College Park – College Park, Maryland
University of Massachusetts Amherst – Amherst, Massachusetts
University of Oregon – Eugene, Oregon
University of Pennsylvania – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
University of Washington – Seattle, Washington
University of Wisconsin — Eau Claire — Eau Claire, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin – Green Bay – Green Bay, Wisconsin
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Washington State University – Pullman, Washington