Campus Pride Releases Annual 'Best Of The Best' Top 30 List Of The LGBTQ-Friendly Campuses Across The Nation 

Campus Pride announced its 2016 "Best of the Best" Top 30 list of LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities. For eight years, the listing has highlighted the most LGBTQ-inclusive colleges and universities when it comes to policy, program and practice in higher education.

Campus Pride chose thirty campuses to highlight this year based on their overall ratings on the Campus Pride Index and specific�LGBTQ-inclusive benchmark measures.� The Campus Pride Index is the premier national benchmarking tool which self-assesses LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs and practices. The tool is free of charge and can be found online at�www.CampusPrideIndex.org.�

Currently there are over 235+ colleges and universities listed online with searchable profiles to learn more about their LGBTQ-friendly programs and services.� Any college can participate in the free resource.

"Prospective students and their families today expect colleges to be LGBTQ-friendly. They want to know what LGBTQ programs, services and resources are available on the campus -- and which are the 'Best of the Best,'" said Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride and creator of the Campus Pride Index. "Now more than ever, there are colleges that are recruiting LGBTQ youth -- and they are investing in a campus that is fully supportive of LGBTQ students. This Top 30 list showcases those 'Top' campuses leading the way."

Unlike some well-known LGBTQ rankings and other commercial ratings, 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 their index annually and uses the Campus Pride benchmarking tool to make improvements for LGBTQ life on campus. According to Windmeyer, "there is a lot to find for LGBTQ life at these campuses." �

Many of them are specifically addressing recruitment and academic retention efforts for LGBTQ students as well as concerns for transgender student safety.�The campuses listed can also be found this Fall at the Campus Pride LGBTQ-friendly College Fair Program in cities like Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Atlanta, Vancouver and St. Louis. Learn more online at CampusPride.org/CollegeFair.

In order to be in the Top 30 listing, an institution had to score the highest percentages in the LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks for policies, programs and practices. The listing this year includes colleges with student populations from 807 to over 45,000, public and private schools alike.

The Top 30 list is in alphabetical order, as follows:

Cornell University
Elon University
Harvey Mudd College
Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Indiana University, Bloomington
Ithaca College
Macalester College
Montclair State University
Portland State University
Princeton University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick
San Diego State University
Southern Oregon University
The Pennsylvania State University
Tufts University
University of California Los Angeles
University of California, Davis
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Louisville
University of Maine at Machias
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
University of Pennsylvania
University of Vermont
University of Washington
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Washington State University

Campus Pride is the leading national educational organization for LGBTQ and ally college students and campus groups building future leaders and safer, more LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities. The organization provides resources and services to thousands of college students and nearly 1400 campuses annually.