Campus Pride released the Top 25 LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities list yesterday and Penn State was proudly among the nation’s best. For the past seven years, the listing has focused on the most LGBTQ-inclusive colleges and universities in terms of policy, program, and practice in higher education.

This year’s listing, however, is the first year Campus Pride has released the Top 25 choices based on higher LGBTQ benchmarks that were on the recently updated version of the Campus Pride Index.

The index is a way to view LGBTQ-friendly programs and practices that have been put into place by a college or university in their higher-level education system. The index is updated annually by each campus and encourages colleges and universities to continually make improvements.

“As time goes on, the needs of LGBTQ college and university students change,” Campus Pride executive director and Campus Pride Index creator Shane Windmeyer said. “Therefore, we have updated our Campus Pride index assessment to reflect that, with higher standards for campuses and a higher focus on trans and gender nonconforming students.”

Windmeyer also spoke on the fact that there is a lot to be learned from the Top 25 campuses. Other schools are encouraged to follow in the footsteps of those on the list and begin to specifically address transgender student safety and recruitment and academic retention efforts for LGBTQ students.

In an attempt to further its efforts, Campus Life recently partnered with the educational website Noodle. Noodle’s goal is to help both parents and students make better decisions about learning. Beginning in the fall, colleges and universities will be able to link their Campus Pride Index to Noodle’s site. This will create more traffic and allow LGBTQ youth to find LGBTQ-friendly campuses. Articles will also be published on Noodle and the site will feature an “Ask a Question” area. This new partnership will strengthen the already impressive strides for further resources and understanding about the LGBTQ community and students.

For any interested, you can find out more about Penn State’s LGBTQ resources at the LGBTQA Student Resource Center.  The resource center focuses on everything from National Coming Out Week to Pride Week, among many more events, and showcases exactly why Penn State made the Top 25 Campus Pride listing.