Best and Worst

UT Dallas

2 Texas schools rank among Campus Pride’s top 40 campuses for LGBTQ students in the U.S.

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

University of Texas at Dallas and Texas Tech University in Lubbock rank among the top 40 campuses in the U.S. for LGBT students, according to the new Campus Pride Index that came out in time for the start of the new school year. Texas is the only state in the southwest with schools on this list.

In addition, University of Texas at Arlington received five stars and Southern Methodist University, which until recently was ranked among the 20 worst for LGBTQ students by Princeton Review, received four-and-a-half stars.

Campus Pride is the major resource for LGBTQ student leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education.
Campus Pride Board Chair Tom Elliott said although UT Arlington achieved five stars, its score was just below the cutoff to make the top 40. To improve its score, he suggested, the school could add an LGBTQ alumni group, something that’s common among the top schools on the list.
“UT Dallas is great to work with,” Elliott said. “They’re one of our more active campuses.”

SMU loses some points for not having a way to change gender identity on university documents and records and not allowing students to self-identify sexual orientation or gender identity on enrollment forms. That complicates roommate matching for freshmen, for example.
Also, there’s no LGBTQ sorority or fraternity and no gender-inclusive housing option on the SMU campus. And, the school doesn’t participate in LGBTQ admissions fairs and doesn’t offer any LGBTQ scholarships.

“They recruit people of color and athletes,” said Elliott, an SMU alum who was active as an undergraduate in the years-long battle for LGBTQ student senate representation. “Some universities don’t have the same priority for LGBT students.”

Texas A&M received three stars and University of North Texas in Denton, home of the North Texas LGBT archives, only scored two-and-a-half stars.

UNT, Elliott said, may be a school that has not updated its Campus Pride profile. Or, it may be a school whose public perception of being open and welcoming is different than its written policies. He said UNT doesn’t have LGBT safety training for its campus police. That alone would make a huge difference in the school’s score.

And that’s where Campus Pride can help with resources.

“We can provide examples and programs for a school,” Elliott said. While raising their scores, schools that work with Campus Pride make campuses safer and more welcoming for LGBTQ students.

Missing from the list are schools such as University of Texas in Austin, Rice University in Houston and TCU in Fort Worth. In order for a college to be listed, someone on campus with knowledge of school policies has to fill out a profile for the school.

Campus Pride’s annual Best of the Best Colleges and Universities for LGBTQ students in the U.S. recognizes the work of campuses that are making their communities a safer and more welcoming environment for students, faculty and staff.

Along with its Best of the Best, Campus Pride also released its 2022 Worst List, which includes 193 campuses across the country this year. Texas has no shortage of campuses that made this list.

Prominent on the worst list is Baylor, which is included because “it has a past and recent history of anti-LGBTQ discrimination and is cited as one of the campuses in the class action lawsuit Hunter v. the U.S. Department of Education for abuses to LGBTQ students over the years,” according to the Campus Pride website.

Notably, the university even sued a group of its own alumni for forming an LGBTQ alumni group and including Baylor in its name. That group’s main purpose would have been to fundraise for the school. And since Baylor alum Brittney Griner came out, she’s no longer mentioned in campus publications.

Campuses don’t have to register to join the worst list.

“Title IX exemptions are public record,” Elliott said, and they’re the basis for many schools making the worst list.

In addition to public record, Elliott said his organization checks media coverage and students can use Campus Pride’s online “report it” form to describe on-campus discrimination.

Other Texas schools on the worst list are Abilene Christian University, Dallas Baptist University and University of Dallas in Irving.
Dallas Baptist University is included because it holds an exemption to Title IX in order to discriminate against its students on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, pregnancy or receipt of abortion while still receiving federal funds. Abilene Christian and University of Dallas appear for a similar list of reasons.

Elliott said at a time of declining enrollment, he’s baffled by why any school would discriminate. He said schools should be welcoming all students, LGBTQ among them, and working to make their campuses safe and welcoming environments.

Despite Elliott’s practical approach, some campus administrators disagree. A dozen seminaries and Baptist-affiliated colleges round out the list of worst campuses for LGBTQ students in Texas.

They are: Arlington Baptist University, Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, College of Biblical Studies in Houston, Criswell College in Dallas, Dallas Theological Seminary, East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Houston Baptist University, Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton and Wayland Baptist University in Plainview.