The Campus Pride Index, once an online database that evaluated the LGBTQ-friendliness of colleges and universities across the nation, has gone defunct. The website isn’t even active anymore! Losing what was widely considered to be an authority on surveying the gay and trans inclusiveness of colleges and universities is a major setback for LGBTQ students seeking to research the colleges to which they may apply. While alternative rankings exist, nothing beats the rigor of the Campus Pride methodology. 

As such, we at Ivy Coach feel it is important to maintain the list of the most recent Campus Pride ranking from 2023, so that LGBTQ students have a reliable source for researching how accepted and safe they will be at various colleges across the nation, even if this source is dated by a few years.

What are the Most LGBTQ-Friendly Schools According to Campus Pride?

Below is a list of the top-scoring institutions in Campus Pride’s 2023 BEST OF THE BEST LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities ranking, the most recent ranking put out before the organization went belly up. Note that Campus Pride did not rank schools against each other. According to their methodology, each school on the list below received the same top score for LGBTQ-friendliness. Schools from Texas and Florida were not included on this list because of recent measures banning LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices in classrooms within these states. 

We suspect that if this ranking were more up to date, more states would be added to this blacklist, as anti-trans laws, in particular, have unfortunately been passed across even more states since 2023. LGBTQ students applying to college nowadays should take it upon themselves to research the political landscape of the states and towns where the colleges they’re interested in are located.

Mid-Atlantic

• Adelphi University
• Ithaca College
• Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick
• The Pennsylvania State University
• University of Maryland, College Park
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Rochester

Midwest

• Augsburg University
• Indiana University, Bloomington
• Kansas State University
• Northern Illinois University
• Oakland University
• Purdue University
• The Ohio State University
• University of Illinois Chicago
• University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
• University of Wisconsin – Green Bay
• University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
• Washington University in St. Louis

New England

• Tufts University
• University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• University of Vermont

South

• Elon University
• George Mason University
• Guilford College
• Northern Kentucky University
• University of Louisville

West

• San Diego State University
• Southern Oregon University
• University of Colorado at Boulder

A Breakdown of Campus Pride’s Top-Scoring Schools

Some schools on this list probably do not come as much of a surprise. The University of Pennsylvania, for example, has a reputation for strong LGBTQ student life and inclusivity. Tufts University has a similar reputation for having a queer-accepting student body. Some schools, however, are notably absent from this list. No members of the famously inclusive University of California system made the cut, nor did any Ivy League schools outside of Penn. In fact, the majority of schools on this list are public research universities, and very few are highly selective.

What Campus Pride Gets Right About LGBTQ Life

Campus Pride described the methodology of their index as follows:

“The index tool includes 50+ self-assessment questions, which correspond to eight different LGBTQ-friendly factors. Questions were weighted in order to emphasize and add value to specific LGBTQ components which were determined to contribute to a more inclusive, welcoming and respectful LGBTQ and ally campus. All eight LGBTQ-friendly factors receive the same weight in the overall score. Significant testing and analysis went into determining the weights. The eight LGBTQ-friendly factors are, as follows:

• LGBTQ Policy Inclusion
• LGBTQ Support & Institutional Commitment
• LGBTQ Academic Life
• LGBTQ Student Life
• LGBTQ Housing
• LGBTQ Campus Safety
• LGBTQ Counseling & Health
• LGBTQ Recruitment & Retention Efforts”

Campus Pride states that their index “is NOT a replacement or substitute for campus climate research which examines more holistically campus attitudes/perceptions of LGBTQ and ally campus life.” But holistic campus attitudes are often one of the most integral components of LGBTQ quality of life at universities! Even if a small school in a rural area checks all of the boxes on their questionnaire, if LGBTQ students are mostly absent from campus, can’t access the same parties, and do not have the same pre-professional opportunities as their straight counterparts, the university’s on-paper commitment to LGBTQ life is relatively meaningless.

LGBTQ College Resources Still Matter

Despite these limitations, Ivy Coach praises the comprehensiveness of this methodology, which probes nearly every single aspect of LGBTQ life on a given campus, not just rhetorical commitments to queer students or the presence of gender-neutral restrooms. It’s for this very reason that we think it’s a shame that Campus Pride is no longer up and running. In the midst of unprecedented political backlash against LGBTQ people, resources like Campus Pride are more necessary than ever. We will thus be sure to update our readers once a new resource with the same rigor as Campus Pride once has comes to light. It’s bound to happen, as LGBTQ students aren’t going anywhere!