UIC ranks on Campus Pride's top 25 LGBT-friendly list

Chicago, IL - Campus Pride released its annual list of the "Top 25-LGBT Friendly Colleges and Universities" and it includes the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The rankings are based on eight LGBT-friendly criteria, including policy inclusion, support and institutional commitment, academic life, student life, housing, campus safety, counseling and health, and recruitment and retention efforts.

The Charlotte-based nonprofit asked five to eight questions in each of the criteria to get a picture of LGBT life on campus. Then the group ranked schools on a five-star rating system.

Campus Pride reported that more than 80 percent of the colleges that participated improved their scores this year, with 53 schools receiving five stars.

"Many more campuses today want to be called LGBT-friendly, but only those who participate in the Campus Pride Index know what policies, programs and practices are important to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities," Shane Windmeyer, executive director of Campus Pride, said in a press release.

This year's list includes public and private schools with student populations from 2,500 to more than 25,000.

Here's their ranking of the top 25 in alphabetical order:

• Carleton College

• Case Western Reserve University

• Connecticut College

• Ithaca College

• Macalester College

• Oberlin College

• Portland State University

• Princeton University

• Rutgers University

• Southern Oregon University

• Stanford University

• The Ohio State University

• University of California, Riverside

• University of California, Santa Cruz

• University of Illinois at Chicago

• University of Maryland, College Park

• University of Massachusetts, Amherst

• University of Michigan

• University of Minnesota — Duluth

• University of Minnesota — Twin Cities

• University of Oregon

• University of Pennsylvania

• University of Southern California

• University of Washington

• Washington State University

The University of Chicago ranked in the Princeton Review's top 20 LGBT-friendly list released earlier this month. That ranking is based on student opinion of the atmosphere on campus and comes from an unscientific sampling.

Campus Pride is planning a series of LGBT-friendly college fairs in six major cities this upcoming fall: Charlotte, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.

Related: Campus Pride event in Chicago Oct. 5