UCLA rates at the top for being LGBT-friendly

When UCLA opened one of the nation's first Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Campus Resource Center in 1995, the campus was on the cutting edge, even though the office was literally housed in a broom closet. Fifteen years later, UCLA has stepped up its game and now ranks as one of the nation's friendliest college campuses for LGBT students.

 

The Campus Pride index of colleges and universities gives students a way to find which schools are the most welcoming to LGBT students. Of the 250 schools on the list, UCLA is among 20 schools tied for first with a coveted five-star ranking. The UC system makes a strong showing on the index, where UC Berkeley and UC Riverside also boast five stars, UC San Diego earned a 4.5, and UC Irvine pulled in 4 stars.

 

"Hearing about that five-star rating just filled me up," said Ronni Sanlo, director of UCLA's LGBT Campus Resource Center, the senior associate dean of students and a professor of education. "UCLA worked very hard to deserve that rating. It takes an entire community of people on a campus to create that."

 

The Campus Pride index recognizes staff and faculty efforts to create a safe and open atmosphere, among many other measurements of campus friendliness. The database isn't about rankings – it's designed to help LGBT students research their college choices and to encourage schools to improve their policies, among other things, said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride.

 

"What makes UCLA five-star is its foundation of LGBT practices, programs and policies to support LGBT students, faculty and staff," Windmeyer said. "The LGBT student is really the new recruitment population for campuses seeking to increase their diversity. By having a five-star rating, UCLA is pulling colleges across the country up to its level, because everyone's competing for these students."

 

Among other things, UCLA offers a minor in LGBT studies; 19 LGBT-related student organizations; the nation's largest free-standing LGBT campus library; walk-in counseling for anyone who needs to talk; a lavender graduation ceremony honoring LGBT students and their supporters; housing options for transgender undergrads; and applications to family housing for grad students with domestic partners, said Sanlo.

 

Sanlo comes with her own pedigree: She inspired campuses nationwide to reach out to their LGBT populations when she transformed the University of Michigan's gay and lesbian services office into the country's first LGBT office in 1994. She also created the now-widespread tradition of holding a lavender graduation.

 

When she came to UCLA in 1997, Sanlo testified before the UC regents about the need to grant benefits to domestic partners of staff and faculty, and refocused the LGBT center to serve faculty and staff in addition to students. "We cannot serve students unless we're also serving faculty and staff," she said.

 

UCLA's LGBT center, which long ago moved out of the broom closet, is now housed in the Student Activities Center, complete with a library, computer room, lounge and offices. The center's comfortable ambiance offers an appealing place to study or hang out, said Stephen Searles, a 21-year-old senior majoring in women's studies with an LGBT studies minor.

 

"Even more importantly, it serves as a safe space on campus where queer students can feel welcome, heard and respected," Searles said. "The staff of the LGBT center are attentive and dynamic. As a student, I know if I have a problem on campus related to an LGBT issue, I can go to the center for help."

 

The center also hosts events and provides a gathering place and resources that are widely used, and not just by LGBT students, said Adelin Lo, office manager for the LGBT center. Roommates come in to ask what they can do to be supportive of a friend who just came out, and "parents come in to learn what's available to their kids in helping them once they arrive at UCLA," Lo said. Peter Carley, the center's counselor, agreed. "You'd be surprised how many parents come in. They're glad to find their kids have their own place to hang out."

 

UCLA also boasts a "huge coalition" of LGBT services and resources, Sanlo said, noting that the Ashe student health center and the residence halls are very LGBT-friendly. Across campus, centers like the Williams Institute at the School of Law and the AIDS Institute in the UCLA Health System add to the university's LGBT credentials.

 

Sanlo, who is retiring in October, called the five-star rating "a perfect note to go out on."

 

"It's a very sweet ending," she said. "I'm very excited for the future at UCLA."