Brown, URI among top 50 LGBT-friendly schools

BROWN UNIVERSITY and the University of Rhode Island have been named to Campus Pride's 2014 list of the top 50 LGBT-friendly colleges in the country. The nonprofit is a volunteer-driven network of student leaders and campus groups who promote a safer college environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER
BROWN UNIVERSITY and the University of Rhode Island have been named to Campus Pride's 2014 list of the top 50 LGBT-friendly colleges in the country. The nonprofit is a volunteer-driven network of student leaders and campus groups who promote a safer college environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students. / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER

Brown University and the University of Rhode Island are among the top LGBT-friendly college campuses in the country, according to the nonprofit Campus Pride.
In a press release on its blog, the nonprofit listed the top 50 schools, which also include Princeton University, Connecticut College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and state universities in Michigan, Wisconsin and California, among others. Brown and URI were the only Rhode Island schools to make the list.
Campus Pride is a volunteer-driven network of student leaders and campus groups who promote a safer college environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students. Developing resources and services to support LGBT students and their allies on college campuses across the country is the group’s mission.
“More than ever, colleges today want to be viewed as LGBT-friendly and a welcoming place for all students,” said the nonprofit’s executive director, Shane L. Windmeyer. “LGBT students and their safety impacts the recruitment efforts of the entire campus. Upper-level administrators are now understanding how LGBT-friendliness is key to future institutional success. This top 50 list is proof.”
Geographically, the top 50 schools tend to be in more progressive areas of the country where there has been a history of LGBT support and advocacy, Windmeyer added.
Releasing a top 50 list instead of a top 25 for the first time this year, Campus Pride created the listing based on final responses to the Campus Pride Index, a national benchmarking tool which self-assesses LGBT-friendly policies, programs and practices.
The index, which Windmeyer created, is based on research in policy, programs and practice and is conducted “for and by” LGBT experts in the field of higher education.

No posts to display