By Chelsey Mick
If you’re wondering where Oregon stands on marriage equality or gay rights in general, here’s a great indicator: four Oregon colleges, out of 425 participating schools, made it into the top 50 of the Campus Pride Index. That’s a pretty impressive percentage when dealing with 50 states’ worth of schools.
OSU in particular received a “five-out-of-five star rating” from Campus Pride, which translates to “top scores in LGBT campus safety, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, and many other areas.” Campus Pride is the nation’s nonprofit leader (and only organization) “for student leaders and campus groups working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly learning environments at colleges and universities,” according to the Pride Index website. If that’s not impressive enough, this ranking comes from an advisory board run by a couple of doctors, a Princeton staffer, and the founder of Campus Pride himself—Shane L. Windmeyer—a guy with too many credits to mention. How is the ranking determined? By “a strong theoretical research foundation” and a series of 50-plus questions revolving around eight LGBT-campus issues: Policy Inclusion, Support and Institutional Commitment, Academic Life, Student Life, Housing, Campus Safety, Counseling & Health, and Recruitment & Retention Efforts.
OSU deserves congratulations for being recognized as a positive environment for all students in attendance, and Corvallis deserves recognition for fostering such an environment. Obviously Oregon is one of the few places in the world where this can all happen.
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