Ivy League Athletic Equality Index

Wondering which Ivy League university athletic department is the most LGBTQ+ friendly? Wonder no more! Athlete Ally releases an Athletic Equality Index, which was recently the subject of an article in The Dartmouth, America’s oldest college newspaper. In the piece, Dartmouth College students reflect on their athletic administration’s policies impacting LGBTQ+ athletes. The school, which scored a 40/100 on the AEI, boasts among its alumni the first openly gay male professional team sport athlete in history. But how exactly does Dartmouth stack up against other Ivies and how is all this measured?

As Jason Norris reports for The Dartmouth in a piece entitled “LGBTQ+ student-athletes reflect on inclusivity within athletic department,” “The AEI measures and ranks departments based on their nondiscrimination policy, trans inclusion policy, sexual harassment policy, fan code of conduct, collaboration with activist groups, LGBTQ+ educational resources and pro-LGBTQ+ training for staff and athletes. Athlete Ally takes all publicly accessible data found on each athletic department’s website into account when scoring a school.”

And how did the other Ivies stack up against Dartmouth? Well, Harvard University scored a 30/100 (ranking the worst among the Ivy League institutions), notably scoring a 0/15 for a trans inclusion policy and 0/5 for both LGBTQ+ training for staff as well as athletes. Brown University scored a 45/100, posting 0’s for a trans inclusive policy and LGBTQ+ training for staff as well as athletes. Yale University scored a 60/100, scoring an 0/10 in fan conduct policy and 0/5 for both LGBTQ+ training for staff as well as athletes. Cornell University fared pretty well at 80/100, losing points for lack of LGBTQ+ training for staff as well as athletes. Princeton University posted a 95/100, losing some points only in the trans inclusive policy category. And Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania set the benchmark among the Ivies, scoring perfect 100/100s.

Ivy Coach salutes Columbia and UPenn for leading the way among the Ivy League institutions with their LGBTQ+ friendly athletic policies! Let’s hope to see more great scores in the years to come. Come on now, Harvard.