A national nonprofit group, Campus Pride, awarded Penn State a five-star rating, effectively naming ours one of the gay-friendliest campuses in the country. Of over 230 institutions surveyed, only 19 were given five out of five stars.

Campus Pride describes itself as “the leading national nonprofit organization for student leaders and campus groups working to create safer, more LGBT-Friendly learning environments at colleges and universities.” To that end, they have developed the Campus Climate Index, which is where these ratings come from. The methodology is based on a questionnaire the organization sends to each school. Based on the answers that school officials return, Campus Pride then formulates that school’s Climate Index.

In formulating each index, Campus pride takes into account several factors, such as policy inclusion, campus safety and support/institutional commitment. For a full list of factors, and to view the actual questionnaire, keep reading here.

The full breakdown of Penn State’s score includes the verbatim questionnaire responses, and goes into more detail specific to Penn State regarding Campus Pride’s eight index factors. But what remains to be seen is this: Is a methodology like this accurate in measuring true campus climate? What do you all out there think? Is this an accurate statement?