University of Chicago makes the top list of LGBT-friendly colleges

Wed. August 7, 2013 9:08 AM by GoPride.com News Staff

Campus Pride cautions Princeton Review’s LGBT college rankings as not reliable

The University of Chicago and Wheaton College ranked among the Princeton Review's annual list of the most LGBT-friendly and unfriendly colleges in the country.

Both Illinois colleges made the cut in the annual rankings book with the University of Chicago ranking in the top 20 LGBT-friendly list, a category dominated by schools in New England and California. Wheaton College was number 4 in the top 20 unfriendly list.

Boston's Emerson College topped the list as most LGBT-friendly.  

The Princeton Review, which surveyed 126,000 students at 378 top colleges in 2012-13 about their school's academics, administration, student body and themselves, included top 20 colleges in these categories along with 60 other lists in the 2014 edition of its book "The Best 378 Colleges" (Random House/Princeton Review, $23.99).

20 Most LGBT-Friendly

1. Emerson College (Boston, MA)

2. Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC)

3. New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)

4. Stanford University (Stanford, CA)

5. University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)

6. Oberlin College (Oberlin, OH)

7. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering (Needham, MA)

8. Smith College (Northampton, MA)

9. New York University (NY, NY)

10. Bryn Mawr College (Bryn Mawr, PA)

11. Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA)

12. Bennington College (Bennington, VT)

13. University of Chicago (Chicago, IL)

14. Yale University (New Haven, CT)

15. Carleton College (Northfield, MN)

16. Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY)

17. Maccalester College (St. Paul, MN)

18. Pitzer College (Claremont, CA)

19. Marlboro College (Marlboro, VT)

20. Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA)

20 Most LGBT-Unfriendly

1. Grove City College (Grove City, PA)

2. Hampden-Sydney College (Hampden Sydney, VA)

3. College of the Ozarks (Point Lookout, MO)

4. Wheaton College (Wheaton, IL)

5. University of Notre Dame (South Bend, IN)

6. Brigham Young University (Provo, UT)

7. Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, NC)

8. Calvin College (Grand Rapids, MI)

9. University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI)

10. University of Dallas (Irving, TX)

11. Texas A&M University (College Station, TX)

12. Baylor University(Waco, TX)

13. Trinity College (Hartford, CT)

14. Auburn University (Auburn, AL)

15. Colgate University (Hamilton, NY)

16. Wofford College (Spartanburg, SC)

17. Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI)

18. Catholic University of America (Washington, D.C.)

19. Pepperdine University (Malibu, CA)

20. University of Wyoming (Laramie, WY)

Campus Pride cautions Princeton Review's LGBT college rankings as commercially flawed, not reliable

The national nonprofit Campus Pride issued a warning about the methodology Princeton Review used to garner their findings. 

"This list is an erroneous indicator of acceptance for LGBT youth and their safety on campus," said Shane Windmeyer, founder and executive director of Campus Pride and the author of The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students. "The majority of students responding to such a question – irrespective of response – will be straight. Their perceptions of equality are likely quite different from those of LGBT students. The Princeton Review should be asking LGBT students about their perceptions of 'friendliness' and safety."

Campus Pride provides their own list, the Campus Pride Index (https://gopride.com/Z8r5), which gives the University of Chicago 5 out of 5 stars. 

This August Campus Pride kicks off its sixth annual national LGBT-friendly college fair program in Charlotte, NC with stops later in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago.
 

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