A Place of Inclusion and Pride

By Patrick Bohn ’05, August 24, 2022

IC named to annual list of best colleges for LGBTQ+ students.

Ithaca College was named to Campus Pride's 2022 Best of the Best list.

(Image from Campus Pride)

Ithaca College is one of just 40 institutions nationwide named among Campus Pride’s 2022 “Best of the Best” colleges and universities for LGBTQ+ students. The preeminent resource for LGBTQ+ leadership development, diversity inclusion, and advocacy within higher education, Campus Pride honors institutions that create a safe, welcoming environment for students, faculty, and staff alike.

“Campus Pride created the Best of the Best list to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of these colleges and universities creating safer, more welcoming campuses for LGBTQ+ people,” said Shane Windmeyer, Campus Pride executive director. “Students, prospective students, and their families, along with faculty and staff members, deserve to know whether they will be safe on campus, so they can make the best choices for their own academic success – and by creating inclusive, safe environments these colleges are taking responsibility for all students.”

Campuses included in the ranking have achieved 5 out of 5 stars on the Campus Pride Index (CPI), the definitive national benchmarking tool measuring LGBTQ-friendly policies, programs, and practices. To earn a ranking of 5 out of 5 stars, campuses receive a percentage score from 90 to 100 based on their LGBTQ-inclusive policies, programs, and practices. This year’s Best of the Best list was based on an overall score of 93 percent or higher.

“Ithaca College is a place that empowers students to live as their authentic selves,” said President La Jerne Terry Cornish. “This outstanding recognition from Campus Pride is evidence of the hard work of our faculty members, staff, and students in fostering our inclusive community on South Hill.”

“Ithaca College is a place that empowers students to live as their authentic selves. This outstanding recognition from Campus Pride is evidence of the hard work of our faculty members, staff, and students in fostering our inclusive community on South Hill.”

Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish

The college has been named to Campus Pride’s list in the past and continues to take steps to make the campus even more welcoming. This fall, IC launched the Open Pages Residential Learning Community (RLC), which is specifically created for transgender and nonbinary students. RLCs are unique housing options made available by Ithaca College’s Office of Residential Life designed to foster meaningful peer connections and belonging through shared interests and lived experiences.

Additionally, the college created the IC Pride Fellowship. One of the first of its kind nationally, the IC Pride Fellowship is for recent graduates and young professionals looking to gain access and insights into the fields of LGBTQ campus resource professionals, higher education, and student affairs. It provides an early career experience designed to instill key core competencies to become effective leaders and changemakers to make a meaningful impact both during their time at Ithaca College and beyond.

Students standing on stage at Pride night.

Pride Night during Orientation is among the LGBTQ+-friendly events held on the IC campus during the year.

(Photo courtesy of Luca Maurer)

“We’re especially excited to debut our new IC Pride Fellowship,” said Luca Maurer, interim executive director for student equity and belonging, and director of the college’s Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services, which is now in its 21st year. “We have high hopes that this new model will advance not only our students and our college but set a new standard of excellence to which other institutions aspire in the pursuit of educational equity.”

“Ithaca College being recognized as one of Campus Pride’s Best of the Best only reinforces my excitement to work for this institution,” said Pride Fellow Grace Dodsall. “Being the inaugural Pride Fellow at an institution with this honor fosters even further excitement for this work--being a member of a campus community that not only accepts queer students but expects them and continues working with and for them.”

“At Ithaca College, progress never stops. We continue to innovate to cultivate LGBTQ student success, and support students in creating meaningful community and a sense of belonging. Here, LGBTQ students are not only accepted, but expected--recognized as integral, necessary, essential members of our campus community and our world.”

Luca Maurer, interim executive director for student equity and belonging, and director of the college’s Center for LGBT Education, Outreach, and Services

In addition, this past February, Ithaca’s LGBTQ History Tour, which was created by former IC students with the help of Maurer and includes several stops on the Ithaca College campus, was awarded the Allan Bérubé Prize for outstanding work in public or community-based lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer history by the American Historical Association Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History.

The honor is also strong proof of the college’s strategic plan goal of being a national model for colleges committed to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.

“At Ithaca College, progress never stops,” Maurer said. “We continue to innovate to cultivate LGBTQ student success, and support students in creating meaningful community and a sense of belonging. Here, LGBTQ students are not only accepted, but expected-- recognized as integral, necessary, essential members of our campus community and our world.”