"As the leading national organization for LGBT students and campus groups, Campus Pride is pleased Newsweek relied on our expertise, resources and our nationally acclaimed online LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index (http://www.CampusPrideIndex.org) for its ranking of its "Top 25 Gay Friendly Colleges for 2011," said Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride executive director/founder. "The Index is a valuable research tool for national benchmarking on LGBT policies, programs and practices. Of course, its free to everyone online -- prospective students, families as well as colleges and universities -- its even accessible for professional news sources like Newsweek."

As stated on the Newsweek's site: To compile the list of the campuses that are the most accepting and open-minded of LGBT students and supporters, we first turned to , a leading metric of how inclusive colleges campuses are of LGBT and Ally people. As well, we considered whether colleges have a LGBT campus center, and College Prowler survey data revealing how students rate the diversity and degree of acceptance for each campus.

Growing number of colleges receive Campus Pride’s five-star gay-friendliness rating, nearly doubles from last year

This Fall a growing number of American colleges and universities are taking steps to make their campuses safer and more inclusive for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, according to the new ratings from the Campus Pride’s LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index. In fact, 33 schools – nearly double the number from last year – received the highest ratings available for institutions of higher education.

The Campus Climate Index lists nearly 300 publicly available campus climate reports online at www.campusclimateindex.org. The nationally-praised Index takes an in-depth look at LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices. Colleges are rated from one to five stars, depending on their answers to a detailed, voluntary questionnaire submitted to Campus Pride, a national non-profit working to create safer, more LGBT-inclusive colleges and build future LGBT and ally leaders. Launched online in Fall 2007, the Index has become a staple in student and faculty research, campus organizing efforts and benchmarking for LGBT student safety and inclusion on campus.

Unlike other national LGBT-friendliness rankings for colleges and universities, Campus Pride's Campus Climate Index takes into account answers by students, faculty and staff to highly detailed, comprehensive questions assessing LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices.

My first blog for Campus Pride focused on the aftermath of an alleged anti-gay incident at Emory University that made the national news.  In that blog, I opined  that leaders at Emory and on other campuses across the country should try to figure out ways to have something positive come from an unfortunate event on campus.

After receiving feedback about the article, I thought that a follow-up “post” might be helpful to outline some ideas  about what campus leaders could do on campus to help decrease (or, ideally, eliminate) anti-LGBT harassment and bullying on campus.  As an aside, some feedback noted that I had omitted the “Q” in LGBT-Q in my first blog.  True, I did omit the “Q,” representing those on campus (and everywhere) who may be questioning their own sexual orientation or identify as queer.  For this and future blogs, I will add the “Q.”  My apologies to those who fall into the “Q” segment within the LGBTQ world (which I suspect may have included many of us at some point in our lives).

I noted previously that anti-gay animus is hard to detect, as only the actor who takes action against an LGBTQ individual or group truly knows whether his/her action was based on anti-gay feelings or beliefs.  But, for a moment, let’s put aside that issue since the determination of animus is “post-action”  and, instead, we should focus attention on what campus leaders can do “pre-action,” i.e., to prevent the occurrence of negative events on campus.  More campus energy should be spent on preventing harassment and bullying, rather than attempting to determine (post-action) why it occurred.  Newly introduced federal legislation, if passed, may require such energy.

In thinking about preventive action, I offer the following three ideas after the jump...

Campus Pride is excited to present David Hanson, a new contributor here at CampusPrideBlog.org. His first entry with us appears below. Expect to see more contributions from David twice per month.

A Boston native, David now lives in Austin, Texas, where he is the CFO and COO of TourDeFIT.com, a new venture company focused on web-based interfaces for individuals, corporations and higher education institutions to advance health and fitness. David began his professional career as an attorney and has worked as an Honors Program JAG Attorney for the U.S. Army and as a federal law clerk. He also has experience in communications and higher education; David worked for nearly 10 years at Emory University, where he served as associate vice president for administration and as the special assistant (chief of staff) to the executive vice president for finance and administration. In these roles, David managed communications and policy development for the institution’s CFO, launched several new initiatives and programs and oversaw the Offices of Business Management, Business Data Analysis, Clifton Community Partnership, Sustainability Initiatives, and Bike Emory. David holds an MBA from Emory University, a Master of Education in Educational Leadership from University of Florida and a doctorate in higher education and non-profit management from the University of Pennsylvania.

Reading a news article about an alleged gay bashing on the grounds of your alma mater is difficult, especially when you worked in a leadership position at the institution for nearly a decade.  Emory University recently made the national news when a gay undergraduate man alleged he was the victim of anti-gay physical abuse and harassment at the hands of fraternity members on campus (see also this story from The Emory Wheel).

Having spent the last 10 years of my life working and socializing as an openly gay administrator on Emory’s campus in Atlanta, I was shocked by the allegations and headlines.  I was equally surprised by the speed at which the incident triggered peers, friends and colleagues across the nation to contact me and ask, “Is Emory really a hostile place for the LGBT community?  How did you work there for so long?”

My heart sank as I read online submissions from parents to the Emory student newspaper stating they were withdrawing their children’s applications for admission.  The emotion caused by the incident, given the allegations, should not have been unexpected as any form of anti-gay harassment or gay bashing is unacceptable — whether on or off of a college campus.  But, one tends to believe that bad things like this could only occur at “another” institution, not Emory.  Reality, however, made me realize that no place is completely safe yet for the LGBT community.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wed, November 4, 2009

Campus Pride College Fair Comes to New York City to Recruit Out LGBT & Ally Students this Friday, November 6, 2009

Nearly fifty colleges to attend national fair program in partnership with the New York LGBT Community Center

New York, NY, Wed, November 4, 2009 – This Friday Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) comes to New York City to host its national college fair, the only program in the nation for out lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally students to find LGBT-friendly colleges. The fair will take place on Friday, Nov. 6 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street, New York, NY. The fair is in partnership with the Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program of the LGBT Community Center. More information available at http://www.campusclimateindex.org/events.

Campus Pride College Fair Comes to Massachusetts Statehouse to Recruit Out LGBT & Ally Students on Wednesday, September 30th

National fair program partners with Friends of GLBT Youth, Inc to provide state-wide outreach to youth and families

Boston, MA, Wed, September 16, 2009 -- In less than two weeks, Campus Pride (www.campuspride.org) comes to the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston to host its national college fair, the only program in the nation for out lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally students to find LGBT-friendly colleges. The fair will take place on Wed, September 30 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Great Hall/Grand Staircase. The fair is in partnership with Friends of GLBT Youth, Inc based locally in Boston, MA . More information available at http://www.campusclimateindex.org/events.

There are nearly thirty colleges currently registered to attend the fair from across the country including: Babson College, Brandeis University, Brown University, Bridgewater State College, Case Western Reserve University, Columbia College Chicago, Colby-Sawyer College, Dartmouth College, Emory University, Emerson College, Goddard College, Harvard College, Haverford College, Pitzer College, Suffolk University, Susquehanna University, Trinity College, Tufts University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, University of Maine Farmington, University of New Hampshire, University of Southern Maine, University of Vermont, University of Maine, University of Pennsylvania, Ursinus College and Yale University.