Dartmouth Earns Perfect Athlete Equality Index Score

A couple of months ago, we reported on how certain highly selective universities stack up against one another with respect to their LGBTQ+ inclusiveness in athletics. At the time, Dartmouth College received an Athlete Equality Index from Athlete Ally of 40 out of 100. As compared to its peer institutions, Harvard University scored a 30/100, Brown University scored a 45/100, Yale University scored a 60/100, Cornell University scored an 80/100, Princeton University scored a 95/100, and Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania each boasted perfect scores. But things are changing for Dartmouth College as the school’s Athlete Equality Index has been updated. The school now boasts a perfect 100/100 AEI — just like Columbia and UPenn.

As Sabrina Eager reports for The Dartmouth in a piece entitled “Athlete Ally updates Dartmouth’s LGBTQ+ inclusion score to perfect,” “AEI scores are determined after Athlete Ally assesses departments’ nondiscrimination policies, sexual harassment policies, annual partnerships and collaborations with LGBTQ+ groups, pro-LGBTQ+ trainings for staff and athletes, trans-inclusion policies, fan codes of conduct and LGBTQ+ educational resources, according to the group’s website. Along with Dartmouth, only 15 other institutions have received a perfect 100, including two other schools in the Ivy League: Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. According to Ian Connole, the senior associate athletics director for Peak Performance and the athletics diversity and inclusion designee, most of the policies and practices relevant to the AEI were already in place prior to March, but were hard to find in print. ‘Our policies haven’t actually changed; they’ve been put on the website to be more transparent,’ he said. ‘Since I’ve been at Dartmouth, we have really sought to create inclusive policies and support all of our students, regardless of gender identity, LGBTQIA+ [identity], race, ethnicity, national origin, etc. For a long time, I think a lot of the policies you’ve had to dig for.'”

We salute Dartmouth for its perfect AEI score, for its commitment to its LGBTQ+ athletes. And we salute Athlete Ally for updating the school’s score once the organization became aware the school’s LGBTQ+ inclusiveness policies actually deserved higher marks.