UW-Milwaukee, UW-Green Bay Ranked In Top 30 Most LGBT-Friendly Campuses In US

Two University of Wisconsin schools are among the most LGBT-friendly campuses in the country, according to a national nonprofit’s 2016 rating of more than 235 private and public campuses across the United States.

The nonprofit, Campus Pride, ranked UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay in the top 30 for their inclusive lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender environments. The nonprofit looks at inclusive polices, academic and student life, housing options and campus safety in rating campuses with populations greater than 807 students.

The UW-Green Bay campus has trained more than 600 people in proper inclusion practices, said Stacie Christian, UW-Green Bay’s Director of Inclusive Excellence and Pride Center. The campus also offers private bathrooms for people to choose based on the gender they identify with and offers a university email system allowing people to select a name they identify with rather than one that may be on their birth certificate or enrollment papers.

People need to be inclusive, it’s not OK to just tolerate, Christian said.

“We are very focused on inclusivity and the concept of inclusivity rather than tolerance,” Christian said. “Inclusivity means that you’re working on policy protocol within the classroom, in the workplace and our community connected on having people feel acknowledged for who they are and recognized and actually part of everyone else’s network.”

Jeanette Martin, assistant director of UW-Milwaukee’s LGBT Resource Center, said the ranking can bring about change.

“Only from here can we continue to grow and inspire others to take on the same work that we’ve been doing,” Martin said.

UW-Milwaukee is happy to help other universities increase their inclusiveness, Martin said.

Both UW-Milwaukee and UW-Green Bay received 4.5 out of 5 stars from Campus Pride.