The Chronicle of Higher Education
September 25, 2007
New Ranking Tallies Colleges' 'Gay-Point Average'
High-school seniors now have another college ranking at their disposal — one that measures campuses’ “gay friendliness.” The LGBT-Friendly Campus Climate Index, a new national ranking designed to gauge how welcoming colleges are to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students, is now up and running.
Campus Pride, the nonprofit organization that developed the index, hopes that it will serve as a benchmarking tool for colleges to plan LGBT programming and will help high-school students shop around for the most hospitable campus. So far, nearly 100 colleges and universities have participated in a 50-item survey used to compile the index, which was announced last spring.
On the honor roll are institutions such as the University of Maryland at College Park and the University of Minnesota at Duluth, both of which scored a “gay-point average” of 4.5 out of 5. The site also has a “bookbag” function that allows prospective students to compare the profiles of participating colleges.
Campus Pride also plans to hold two LGBT-oriented college-admission fairs this fall and spring. Last year the organization, in partnership with The Advocate, the prominent gay and lesbian newsmagazine, published its own college guide for gay, lesbian, transsexual, and bisexual students. —Paula Wasley
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment