Despite being located in a city perceived as being gay friendly, Cal State Long Beach received sluggish marks in an influential report that rates how friendly colleges and universities are to LGBT students, faculty and administrators.

CSULB received a mediocre 2.5 out of 5 stars in eight categories on the Campus Pride Index, a ranking by a national nonprofit of student leaders, faculty and campus groups working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly environments.

The university earned high marks for LGBT student life, counseling and health, and policy inclusion, but low scores for LGBT support and institutional commitment, housing and residential life, recruitment and retention efforts and campus safety.

The university has made various policy improvements, however, in housing and residential life and campus safety that should improve the tepid score, said Dina Perrone, an assistant professor in CSULB’s criminal justice department, and one of the people who worked on the survey.

Campus officials had not yet reviewed the details of the index score, but were “pleased to learn that the report makes note of our efforts to provide a hospitable and safe campus environment for LGBT students,” said CSULB spokeswoman Terri Carbaugh.

“Ideally, we would prefer that our ranking be 5 out of 5 possible stars on the Campus Pride index,” she said. “It appears that we provide some assurances on matters of personal safety, but possibly could do even more to ensure every student feels very much at home on our university, including in our campus dorms.”

Any college or university may participate in the index, which includes a survey of 55 questions in eight categories.

By comparison, UCLA and USC, which also completed the survey, rated a perfect 5 out of 5. Roughly 380 schools across the country participate in the survey, which was launched in 2007.

Once the college or university completes the index, the campus receives a confidential 14-page report with results and recommendations.

“California has an advantage. It’s a progressive state in general for LGBT people,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride Index. “But Cal State Long Beach could do better in student life and policies. For example, many campuses think that having an LGBT resource center or non-discrimination policy makes them makes them LGBT friendly, but you can’t rely on a campus group. It’s the administration’s responsibility.”

CSULB could also benefit from tracking how many LGBT students attend and graduate from the campus, Windmeyer said.

“It’s important to see how many LGBT students are on campus and how many are graduating,” he said. “It holds the college responsible for being LGBT friendly.”

Perrone agrees with Windmeyer’s assessment that the campus LGBT resource center should have a paid, full-time staff member.

“The administration puts the burden on the students at the LGBT resource center to do programming and deal with a variety of issues. It’s disappointing,” she said. “When students have a problem, they go to the resource center. That’s not ideal. We need to have a professional person on staff full time.”

For to view the report, visit www.campusprideindex.org.

Contact Phillip Zonkel at 562-714-2098.