Campus Pride Announces 2020 BEST OF THE BEST LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities

Campus Pride commemorates LGBTQ History Month and National Coming Out Day by releasing its 2020 BEST OF THE BEST LGBTQ-Friendly listing of colleges and universities. The announcement features forty campuses from six regions of the country who are deeply committed to LGBTQ students and who rate the highest for LGBTQ-inclusion in policy, program and practice.

The full listing may be found online: www.CampusPride.org/2020BESTOFTHEBEST

“On behalf of Campus Pride, I want to commend all the campuses featured among the 2020 ‘BEST OF THE BEST’ LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities for their exemplary commitment and work to make their campuses safer and more welcoming,” said Tom Elliott, Campus Pride Board Chair. “In times like these, we need to commit to creating safe and welcoming spaces for all students.”

For nearly two decades, Campus Pride has advocated and supported college and university campuses to improve LGBTQ campus life and change institutional policies, programs and practices. The Campus Pride Index (CPI), located at www.CampusPrideIndex.org, provides an invaluable benchmarking tool to assess LGBTQ-inclusion efforts from academics, to student life, to housing, to recruitment and retention activities. There are nearly 400 colleges who have “come out” on the index and hundreds of thousands who utilize the public search to find LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities annually.

“Today college campuses must ‘come out’ and be visible as LGBTQ-friendly. Students expect inclusive, equitable learning environments at colleges in all regions of the country. And as a basic standard, they demand campuses have LGBTQ-inclusive policies, programs and services,” said Shane Windmeyer, Executive Director, Campus Pride. “These forty campuses, across six diverse regions, are leading the charge.”

This year Campus Pride chose to put a spotlight on the regional diversity of the list by highlighting colleges and universities by region. Campus Pride works with over 1400 colleges and universities annually to improve the quality of campus life for LGBTQ people and to create safer, more inclusive campus communities. Sixty percent of their work is dedicated to working with colleges in the South, Midwest and campuses within more rural communities.

The 2020 BEST OF THE BEST College & University listing is based on the data provided annually through the CPI related to policies, programs and practice. The research is analyzed by the Campus Pride research team using the proven CPI LGBTQ-Friendly factors and knowledge of the LGBTQ higher education landscape.

“Every student deserves to go to a college that is inclusive and a safe space - to learn, live and grow,” said Windmeyer. “This October is LGBTQ History Month and National Coming Out Day was October 11. Let us commit ourselves to LGBTQ inclusion, coming out and supporting LGBTQ youth in living full, authentic lives.”

You can view Campus Pride’s 2020 BEST OF THE BEST Colleges & Universities at: www.CampusPride.org/2020BESTOFTHEBEST

You can view nearly 400 LGBTQ-Friendly colleges and universities who have come out on the Campus Pride Index at: www.CampusPrideIndex.org

2020 Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities

(listed by region, not in particular order):

Mid-Atlantic Region

Ithaca College

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick

University of Maryland, College Park

Lehigh University

Montclair State University

The Pennsylvania State University

University of Pennsylvania

Princeton University

Midwest

Kansas State University

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Indiana University, Bloomington

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

The Ohio State University

Kenyon College

Kent State University

Augsburg College

Macalester College

Purdue University

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

New England

Tufts University

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

University of Vermont

MIT

Southeast

Guilford College

Northern Kentucky University

Elon University

University of Kentucky

University of Louisville

Southwest

University of Texas at Dallas

Texas Tech University

West

University of Washington

University of Oregon

Portland State University

University of Colorado at Boulder

Southern Oregon University

San Diego State University

Washington State University

Harvey Mudd College