OSU comes out in the rankings

OSU named in publication in top 100 LGBT-friendly campuses across the nation thanks in large part to student-led effort

by Matt Lewis

In two short years, the OSU Pride Center has come out of the closet and hit the ground running. And the success is not going unnoticed.

Recently, OSU was named as being one of the top 100 LGBT-friendly campuses in the United States in “The Advocate College Guide for LGBT Students.”

The book is published by Alyson Books, a sister company of The Advocate, the nation’s largest magazine targeted at a gay/lesbian audience.

“I think this shows a very accurate representation of not only the administrative support we have on campus, but also of the student involvement within the actual LGBT services,” Joscelyne Kravitz, a senior in philosophy, said.

The guide provides a resource for students looking at attending college to find an educational atmosphere that would be most conducive to them.

“It’s not a guide that tells students where to go to school, but it is a guide that can be used in conjuction with other research to find the best place for them to succeed,” Bruce Steele, editor-in-chief for The Advocate, said.

“I was not surprised,” dean of students, Jackie Balzer, said of OSU’s appearance in the book.

“If you look at the fact that we have a pride center and a full-time coordinator, those are key factors in having a good program to guide us to be better allies or address areas where our community could be more welcoming.”

In fact, it was mostly because of student efforts that two years ago the then Queer Resource Center moved from its office in the Women’s Center, termed a “closet” by those who worked there, into the newly-opened OSU Pride Center.

“The reason we’re in these rankings is because of the students who looked around and only saw a staff and faculty group and a student social organization,” Steven Leider, OSU LGBT outreach and services coordinator said. “The students’ hard work is what sky-rocketed us into this listing.”

Leider, who began working on campus last fall, is the first full-time employee at OSU whose sole job is to coordinate LGBT-related programs and outreach services.

Last fall, the Pride Center entered into a covenant agreement with the university administration, meaning that there will always be a pride center at OSU and that the university will never try to close or defund the pride center without first talking to the student body.

OSU is the only university in the United States to have such an agreement with its Pride Center.

“(The covenant agreement) is remarkable. It shows that campuses are already gay friendly, are working to becoming more gay friendly and that every week, month, year things are changing — for the better in most part,” Steele said.

Even though the students and staff working for the pride center and with the OSU community have already achieved so much, they show no signs of slowing down.

“I would anticipate that OSU will be well on its way to having a much more supportive environment by the time the next edition is published,” Balzer said.

Depending on sales and response to this edition of the LGBT Guide, the next edition could come out within the next two years, according to Steele.

“(Appearing in the guide) is just a demonstration of OSU’s commitment to its students and the centers they create,” Balzer said.

“The stuff we have for LGBT support are for everyone. This gives people the opportunity to become better allies and just celebrate what we’ve got.”