Guide ranks IU 3rd most GLBT-friendly campus

IU was recently ranked one of the best universities in the country for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, according to The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students.\nThe Guide, written by IU alumnus Shane Windmeyer, profiled 100 colleges and universities from around the country and rated them on a 20-point scale based on their resources and programs that support GLBT students. IU's "Gay Point Average" was an 18 out of 20, making it the third-highest scoring university overall.\n "This book very clearly lays out where IU meets the criteria for a GLBT-friendly school," said Doug Bauder, coordinator of IU's GLBT Student Support Services.\nThe Guide pinpointed a supportive campus environment as IU's top strength.\nIU was also noted in the guide as being a campus where the majority of GLBT students feel safe. Much of this sentiment is the result of a supportive administration at IU that values diversity, said former OUT President Lucas Elliot. \n"I know that as a student one of the most influential supporters of the GLBT community for me has been Dean (Richard) Mckaig," he said. "He has always supported us, and that has always made me feel safer at this campus."\nThe two requirements that IU failed to meet on the Gay Point Average checklist were having a nondiscrimination statement inclusive of sexual orientation and offering GLBT housing themes to students. \nThe GLBT office is talking to the board of trustees with the help of affirmative action groups and other organizations to have a nondiscrimination statement added to IU's Student Code. \nThe University of Southern California scored a perfect 20 out of 20 on the "Gay Point Average," partially because of its gender-free restrooms and GLBT residence halls.\nWhile IU does not have an official residence hall for GLBT students, the guide cites Read and Collins Living-Learning Center as top places for GLBT students to live on campus. \nThough IU's GLBT office has one of the largest GLBT libraries in the country, members who are active on campus and in the community continue to seek out new ways to create more opportunities for students and improve the GLBT community as a whole.\n"I think IU could use a bigger GLBT support center to accommodate all of their student needs on a larger level," senior Christina Patterson said. "By getting the message out to more students and the community that diversity is something to be embraced and that the GLBT community is nothing to be feared or targeted, then I think that life on campus and in Bloomington in general could be more harmonious"